Carolina comments

The Odyssey of the Periauger
The sounds and rivers of eastern North Carolina bore witness this summer to a vessel
once common on those waters but not seen there for nearly two centuries. After more than
seven months of construction involving thirty volunteers working 8,400 man-hours, a rep-lica
of a periauger, the workboat of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, was built at
the North Carolina MaritimeMuseumWatercraft Center in Beaufort. A partnership consisting
of the museum, the Perquimans County Restoration Association (parent organization of the
1730 Newbold-White House: A Colonial
Quaker Homestead), Perquimans County,
and the East Carolina University Program in
Maritime Studies, the Periauger Project was
funded through private donations and
enhancement monies from the North
Carolina Department of Transportation. Its
purpose was to construct a working replica of
a periauger, the generic term for a two-masted
boat made from a split dugout cypress
log with a plank keel insert, which could be
propelled by either oars or sails. The vessel
would eventually be moored at the
Newbold-White House near Hertford,
where it would serve as an interpretative
teaching tool.
Many hands were involved in the design
and construction of the log boat. Michael B.
Alford, former curator of maritime research
at the museum and author of Traditional
Workboats of North Carolina, provided the
design, based upon his own research and that
of Dr. Larry Babits, a maritime archaeologist
and historian at East Carolina University,
Carolina
Comments
VOLUME 52, NUMBER 4 OCTOBER 2004
Published Quarterly by the North Carolina Office of Archives and History
The Periauger, a replica of the workboat of colonial
North Carolina, was built at the North Carolina
Maritime Museum at Beaufort. The log boat
recently completed a three-week odyssey to its
home port in Hertford. All images by the Office of
Archives and History unless otherwise indicated.
Harry Pecorelli, and Deirdre O’Regan. LuAnn Pendergraft applied her considerable grant-writing
skills to obtaining the essential funding. Paul E. Fontenoy, the current curator of
maritime research at the Maritime Museum, served as project coordinator, and Montgomery
Spindler as project director. From the design, Alford, Fontenoy, and Spindler produced first a
model, then working plans, which they presented to the project boat builder, Craig Wright.
Construction of the periauger began in November 2003, and the keel was laid on Janu-ary
16. In the meantime, masts and sweeps were prepared by another crew of volunteers at
Hertford. While still in the early stages of construction, the hull was displayed at the
museum’s Wooden Boat Show on May 1. In a ceremony on June 19, the vessel was appro-priately
christened Periauger and finally, on July 12, it was launched. The Periauger is thirty feet
long with a beam of seven feet. The two masts are about twenty-five feet tall, each supporting
1 0 8 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
A Message from the Deputy Secretary
For those readers who have followed this column or
heard me speak at meetings of boards and commissions,
you know that the news on the budget has not been
good for many years. That changed during the 2004
session of the North Carolina General Assembly. At least
partially reversing a trend dating back to 1991, the
General Assembly took positive action to reinforce and
expand the programs of the North Carolina Office of
Archives and History.
To be sure, the agency absorbed another across-the-board
budget cut of 2 percent for fiscal year 2004-2005, but that reduc-tion
was offset by an expansion budget in several critical areas of the program.
Although the Archives and Records Section lost two vacant positions in the budget
cuts, it received an additional five positions to manage digital archives and bolster
efforts in the area of electronic records. The Museum of the Albemarle in Elizabeth
City received six positions to staff its handsome new facility on the banks of the
Pasquotank River. After several false starts in which appropriations for the chrono-logical
exhibit in the North Carolina Museum of History disappeared during budget-ary
crises, the General Assembly provided $1.2 million to begin preparation of that
long-awaited exhibit. With an appropriation of $560,000, the General Assembly also
took steps to remedy environmental concerns at the site of the new History Educa-tion
Center for Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens in New Bern. Further budget
provisions created two heritage tourism positions to promote a Civil War corridor in
eastern North Carolina, and a position to manage and maintain the landscape at
Roanoke Island Festival Park.
Other parts of the program—especially state historic sites, the State Historic Pres-ervation
Office, and the Office of State Archaeology—continue to suffer from cumu-lative
budget cuts. Still, the new appropriations underscore the importance of history
to the cultural, educational, and economic health of the state. Without the support of
Governor Mike Easley, Secretary of Cultural Resources Lisbeth Evans, and members
of the General Assembly, the funding would not have been possible.
Let’s hope that this year’s appropriations signal a new trend. Thoughtful citizens
recognize that the arts, libraries, and history make a dynamic contribution to North
Carolina’s quality of life and economy. The new budget reflects that belief and
commitment.
Jeffrey J. Crow
a single Bermuda sail. The boat was designed with eight rowing stations, each equipped with
a twelve-foot sweep.
After the log boat was outfitted, it was put through a series of sea trials before setting off
on a three-week odyssey to its destined home port of Hertford. Calls at Oriental, New
Bern, Washington, Bath, Belhaven, and Manteo were included on the itinerary. A contin-gent
of thirty volunteers enlisted to serve on the six-to-eight-person crew that rotated
about every four days. Another eighty people and forty boats assisted with transportation
and provisions. John Ernst, commander of the expedition, donated the use of his boat, the
Destiny, which served as the primary towboat and was piloted during the voyage by his
wife Joan. Noel and Myra McKechie of Hertford provided the Kiwi Magic as the quarter-master
vessel and served hot meals for the crew throughout the trip. Various vessels served
as support boats for billeting the crew; originally, the Twilight Time, offered by Harold
O’Briant of Durham, filled the role.
Even before the Periauger was under way, the
weather played havoc with the itinerary. Strong
winds and heavy rain from Hurricane Charley
forced the postponement of the scheduled
launch on August 15. The boat was returned to
the Watercraft Center shed to wait out the
storm. Meanwhile, a party was held at the
Maritime Museum to honor the staff members
and volunteers who had constructed it, during
which Montgomery Spindler presented certifi-cates
of appreciation to the volunteers.
The original schedule had the first leg of the
voyage along the Intracoastal Waterway from
Beaufort to Oriental, then up the Neuse River
to New Bern the following morning. But to
make up for the day lost to inclement weather,
Ernst decided to transport the boat overland to
New Bern. The eighty-minute haul was
accomplished without incident, though cer-tainly
turning a few heads along U.S. 70. The
initial crew, consisting of Harold O’Briant and other members of the Durham Sail and
Power Squadron, were put through the paces of basic rowing instructions while the
Periauger was still strapped to its trailer. Finally, the log boat was gently lowered into the
waters of the Trent River. After sailing back and forth several times for the benefit of
WUNC-TV cameramen, the vessel made an official entrance at the docks of the Sheraton
Grand New Bern Hotel and Marina.
The Periauger docked for two full days at New Bern, with the crew taking her out for
daily excursions on the river. Other members of the project sold commemorative tee shirts
and talked with visitors along the waterfront, while Ernst and Ken Ries (who, with Bill
Anderson, were along for the entire journey) gave a slide presentation at Tryon Palace.
On August 19, the log boat and its escort vessels departed for Oriental. The morning was
hot and still, so the Periauger was hitched to the Destiny and towed down the wide Neuse.
As the boats approached the harbor at Oriental, the wind picked up, so the crew scuttled
over to the Periauger and sailed smoothly into port. A fresh crew, which included Larry
Babits, replaced the Durham contingent, whose colonial-era outfits, prepared by seam-stresses
at the Newbold-White House, received an overdue trip to the cleaners.
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 0 9
The Periauger under sail.
After laying over a day at
Oriental, during which time
adjustments were made to the
rigging, the Periauger set sail for
the next scheduled anchorage at
Goose Creek. The morning of
August 21 brought brisk winds laden with the promise of an afternoon thunderstorm. The
new crew experimented with various tacking and sweeping maneuvers, and soon discov-ered
that the boat was quite heavy and could not be quickly stopped. With the favorable
winds, the log boat was soon running along the southern reaches of Pamlico Sound at its
maximum speed of 6.5 knots. But after lunch, as the winds reached 16 knots, the sails
were furled on both the Periauger and the Destiny, and the towline attached. The boats
gained the relative haven of the Intracoastal Waterway as the clouds burst and the winds
gusted at 24 knots. But the Destiny grounded on a shoal in the canal, and before the crew
of the Periauger could react, the log boat ran up on the stern of the towboat, denting the
soft cypress nose of the Periauger.
The next morning, the fleet cleared the Intracoastal Waterway and proceeded up the
Pamlico River towards Washington. Because they were running behind schedule, the
Periauger was again tied to the Destiny and, with the motor running and both boats set to
full sail, soon reached a speed of 8 knots. The vessels arrived safely in the harbor at
Washington in the late afternoon.
Another two-day layover allowed additional changes to the crew, minor repairs to the
log boat, visitations by media representatives, presentations to a couple of civic groups, and
a barbecue at Chocowinity for the project staff and crew. A sliver of wood protruding
from the foremast about four feet above deck had been detected at Goose Creek, but
closer inspection at Washington revealed that it was not, as feared, a stress fracture. Com-mander
Ernst contacted Craig Wright, the builder, who said the mast was not compro-mised
and could be repaired with a spot of epoxy. The same tincture was applied to the
minor compression damage on the nose of the Periauger.
On August 25, the Periauger and her escorts resumed the journey with a short fourteen-mile
jog to Bath. The Destiny towed the log boat most of the distance, but the wind rose as
the crew was eating lunch, and again they were able to sail the Periauger into an easy landing
at the dock at Bath. The next day, two groups of schoolchildren from Bath Elementary
School came down to visit the strange looking boat and were given a hands-on rowing les-son—
on the dock. A re-enactor dressed as Blackbeard came aboard for a short sail, but the
Periauger ran too close to the Kiwi Magic and became entangled in its anchor line.
The next leg of the journey, another short run down the Pamlico River and up the
Pungo to Belhaven, was nearly disastrous. The Periauger sailed smartly out of Bath on
August 27 but was soon running against the wind, and the towline to the Destiny was reat-tached.
Again, both motor and full sails were utilized. The winds and seas rose as the boats
neared Wades Point, when the crew aboard the towboat noticed that the main mast of the
Periauger was gyrating wildly along the floor of the vessel. A large wooden dowel that
1 1 0 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Part of the revolving crew of the
Periauger at work, (left to right) Bill
Anderson, captain of the boat, Ken
Ries, Mike Butler, and Reid London.
Photo courtesy of Larry Babits.
attached the mast to its step had worked loose, and the spar was held upright solely by its
passage through the thwart. Commander Ernst sent Bill Anderson, captain of the Periauger,
over to the log boat to cut away the sails and retrieve the blocks and halyard before the
mast snapped. No sooner had he done so than the mast went crashing down into the
water. Anderson was able to retrieve the spar from the river and stow it on the floor of the
log boat. Meanwhile, the engine on the Destiny had fouled, leading to a few uneasy
moments in the rough seas. But the towboat, on sail power alone, finally got around the
turn and into the shelter of Pungo River. The fleet limped into Belhaven before dark.
Commander Ernst decided the following day to haul the damaged log boat overland to
Manteo, the next scheduled port of call, and a truck was summoned from Hertford. He
also arranged for the spare solid masts, made in Hertford during the winter, to be trans-ported
from Beaufort to the workshop at Roanoke Island Festival Park (RIFP). While the
Destiny, the Kiwi Magic, and other support vessels sailed up the Intracoastal Waterway to
the Alligator River and Albemarle Sound, the Periauger and its replacement masts con-verged
on Manteo aboard separate trailers, a far cry from the spectacular entrance on
Roanoke Island so eagerly anticipated.
On the last day of August, Ernst, Anderson, and other crewmen worked with Carroll
Williams, maintenance supervisor at RIFP, and master mechanic Robbie Putnam, interim
master of the Elizabeth II and the Silver Chalice, to fit the new mast. They tested the new
spar, which featured a larger, stronger step, and was wider through the partners, on the water
the following day and found it to be quite strong. Another minor problem, a split on the
rudder port, was bandaged with line. In the meantime, members of the crew presented
another program on the construction and history of the Periauger in the film theater at RIFP.
On September 2, Ann Jones, site manager of the Newbold-White House museum,
came down to Manteo for a sail on the repaired Periauger. During the excursion, Ernst dis-covered
that the step tenon on the foremast had broken, in the same manner that the aft
mast had done on the Pamlico. The crew returned to port, removed the sails and rudder,
unstepped the masts, and once again hauled the log boat onto its trailer. It was driven to
Hertford the following day.
On the morning of September 11, a rested and repaired Periauger sailed into the harbor
at Hertford. Its grand arrival was the highlight of the annual Indian Summer Festival in
Hertford and Winfall and the concurrent Hearth & Harvest Festival at the Newbold-
White House. Fittingly, the Periauger, whose predecessors patrolled the sounds of the Car-olinas
and Georgia in the early eighteenth century, was escorted into harbor by a Coast
Guard patrol boat. A fleet of kayaks swarmed around the curious looking vessel as it passed
beneath the bridges at Hertford. The crew was again decked out in eighteenth-century
period costumes, and came ashore to mingle with the crowd, explain the history and con-struction
of the boat, and recount its recent odyssey through eastern North Carolina. The
Periauger will be moored for awhile at Hertford before moving on to its permanent home
at the nearby Newbold-White House.
[The editor gratefully acknowledges the contributions of Larry Babits, John Ernst, Ann Jones, Jane Wolff, Tanya
Young, and the excellent website of the Newbold-White House (http://newboldwhitehouse.org) to this article.]
Entries for North Carolina Book Awards Announced
The following titles have been entered in the North Carolina Book Awards competi-tions,
sponsored by the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association (NCLHA) in
cooperation with the Historical Book Club of North Carolina, the Roanoke-Chowan
Group of Writers and Allied Artists, and the North Carolina Division of the American
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 1 1
Association of University Women (AAUW). More about the awards can be found at:
http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/affiliates/lit-hist/awards/awards.htm. Winning entries in each
category will be announced during the joint annual meeting of the NCLHA and the
Federation of North Carolina Historical Societies, which will take place in Raleigh on
November 19.
OLD NORTH STATE AWARD (nonfiction)
Andrews, William L., ed. North Carolina Slave Narratives: The Lives of Moses Roper, Lunsford
Lane, Moses Grandy, and Thomas H. Jones. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
Press, 2003.
Browning, Christopher R. The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish
Policy, September 1939-March 1942. Lincoln and Jerusalem: University of Nebraska Press
and Yad Vashem, 2004.
Clotfelter, Charles T. After Brown: The Rise and Retreat of School Desegregation. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 2004.
Covington, Howard E., Jr. Favored by Fortune: George W. Watts and the Hills of Durham.
Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, 2004.
Gaillard, Frye. Cradle of Freedom: Alabama and the Movement that Changed America.
Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2004.
Harris, William C. Lincoln’s Last Months. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004.
Jenkins, Carol L., ed. Widows and Divorcees in Later Life: On Their Own Again. New York:
Haworth Press, 2003.
Lattimore, Robin Spencer. Across Two Centuries: The Lost World of Green River Plantation.
Rutherfordton: Hilltop Publications, 2003.
Lynch, Sheri. Hello, My Name is Mommy: The Dysfunctional Girl’s Guide to Having, Loving
(and Hopefully Not Screwing up) a Baby. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2004.
Moore, Richard, and Jay Barnes. Faces from the Flood: Hurricane Floyd Remembered. Chapel
Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004.
Morton, Hugh. Hugh Morton’s North Carolina. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
Press, 2003.
Orr, Elaine Neil. Gods of Noonday: A White Girl’s African Life. Charlottesville: University
of Virginia Press, 2003.
Otterness, Philip. Becoming German: The 1709 Palatine Migration to New York. Ithaca:
Cornell University Press, 2004.
Pease, William H., and Jane H. Pease, eds. The Roman Years of a South Carolina Artist:
Caroline Carson’s Letters Home, 1872-1892. Columbia: University of South Carolina
Press, 2003.
Rivenbark, Celia. We’re Just Like You, Only Prettier: Confessions of a Tarnished Southern
Belle. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2004.
Rusher, Tom. Until He is Dead: Capital Punishment in Western North Carolina History.
Boone: Parkway Publishers, 2003.
Sanders, Lynn Moss. Howard W. Odom’s Folklore Odyssey: Transformation to Tolerance
through African American Folk Studies. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2003.
Sparks, Nicholas, and Micah Sparks. Three Weeks with My Brother. New York: Warner
Books, 2004.
Straw, Richard A., and H. Tyler Blethen, eds. High Mountains Rising: Appalachia in Time
and Place. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004.
Weissman, Gary. Fantasies of Witnessing: Postwar Efforts to Experience the Holocaust. Ithaca:
Cornell University Press, 2004.
1 1 2 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
SIR WALTER RALEIGH AWARD (fiction)
Bowen, Michelle Andrea. Second Sunday. West Bloomfield, Mich. and New York: Walk
Worthy Press and Warner Books, 2003.
Chadwick, Cynn. Girls with Hammers. New York: Harrington Park Press, Haworth Press,
2004.
Fortune, Gwendoline Y. Family Lines. Gretna, La.: Pelican, 2003.
Hampton, Lynette Hall. Jilted by Death. Johnson City, Tenn.: Silver Dagger Mysteries,
Overmountain Press, 2003.
Maron, Margaret. Last Lessons of Summer. New York: Mysterious Press, Warner Books,
2003.
May, John. Poe and Fanny. Chapel Hill: Shannon Ravenel Book, Algonquin Books, 2004.
Mountford, BJ. Bloodlines of Shackleford Banks. Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, Publisher,
2004.
Parker, Michael. Virginia Lovers. Harrison, N.Y.: Delphinium Books, 2004.
Price, Charles F. Where the Water-Dogs Laughed: The Story of the Great Bear. Boone: High
Country Publishers, 2003.
Saterstrom, Selah. The Pink Institution. Saint Paul, Minn.: Coffee House Press, 2004.
Schulman, David. The Past is Never Dead. Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, Publisher, 2004.
Scott, Joanna Catherine. Cassandra Lost. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2004.
Wyche, Blonnie Bunn. The Anchor: P. Moore Proprietor. Wilmington: Banks Channel
Books, 2003.
Young, Jon M. Roger Maris Died Yesterday. Boone: Parkway Publishers, 2004.
ROANOKE-CHOWAN AWARD (poetry)
Chappell, Fred. Backsass. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2004.
Cox, Mark. Natural Causes. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004.
Eaton, Charles Edward. The Work of the Sun. Cranbury, N.J.: Cornwall Books, 2004.
Kirkpatrick, Kathryn. Beyond Reason. San Antonio: Pecan Grove Press, 2004.
Reevy, Tony. Magdalena. Columbus, Ohio: Pudding House Publications, 2004.
Rigsbee, David. The Dissolving Island. Kansas City: BkMk Press, 2003.
Smith-Soto, Mark. Our Lives are Rivers. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003.
Suk, Julie. The Dark Takes Aim. Pittsburgh: Autumn House Press, 2003.
West, John Foster. High Noon in Pompeii. Boone: Parkway Publishers, 2004.
AAUW AWARD (juvenile literature)
Dessen, Sarah. The Truth about Forever. New York: Viking, 2004.
Flood, Pansie Hart. It’s Test Day, Tiger Turcotte. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 2004.
Froeber, Sarah. Pelican and Pelicant. Chapel Hill: Toucan Press, 2003.
Jones, Elizabeth McDavid. Ghost Light on Graveyard Shoal. Middleton, Wis.: Pleasant
Company Publications, 2003.
Powell, Consie. Amazing Apples. Morton Grove, Ill.: Albert Whitman & Company, 2003.
Price-Groff, Claire. Thomas Alva Edison: Inventor and Entrepreneur. New York: Franklin
Watts, Scholastic Inc., 2003.
Wyche, Blonnie Bunn. The Anchor: P. Moore Proprietor. Wilmington: Banks Channel
Books, 2003.
The afternoon program of the annual meeting will focus on western North Carolina.
Historians Timothy Silver and Richard Starnes will speak on the environmental history of
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 1 3
the Appalachians and tourism in the North Carolina mountains, respectively. For the eve-ning
program, award-winning novelist Allan Gurganus, author of Oldest Living Confederate
Widow Tells All, will be the keynote speaker.
Renovated Boathouse, New Lighthouse on Roanoke Island Dedicated
The George Washington Creef Boathouse in Manteo, home to the Roanoke Island
branch of the North Carolina Maritime Museum and birthplace of the Elizabeth II, was
rededicated during a gala community celebration on September 25. The boathouse was
severely damaged a year ago by Hurricane Isabel and has required extensive repairs and
renovations. The Town of Manteo also dedicated the new Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse,
a working reproduction of the 1858 screw-pile lighthouse
that stood off the south end of Roanoke Island where Croatan
and Roanoke Sounds meet. The original light was decommis-sioned
in 1955 and subsequently crumbled into the water
when an effort was made to move it. The new lighthouse,
built on the site of the town’s old wastewater treatment
plant on the east side of the island, will guide vessels into
Shallowbag Bay. Both the boathouse and the lighthouse will
house educational activities, including permanent and rotating
exhibits, of the North Carolina Maritime Museum. Dedica-tion
ceremonies featured a free community cookout, music by
Bett Padgett and Dulcimer Dan, costumed interpreters from
Roanoke Island Festival Park and Chicomacomico Lifesaving
Station, and remarks by John Wilson, mayor of Manteo.
Humber House to Receive Repair and Renovation Funds
The historic Robert Lee Humber House in downtown Greenville, home to the Eastern
Office of Archives and History since 1983, has been granted $565,000 from the state repair
and renovation fund, Gov. Michael F. Easley announced on August 23. The house is in
desperate need of extensive repairs, including stabilizing the foundation, replacing the roof,
rebuilding a porch and leaky windows, and conducting widespread electrical and plumbing
work. Built in 1895 by Robert Lee Humber Sr., the colonial revival house was deeded by the
Humber family to the City of Greenville and Pitt County in 1980, and donated to the State of
North Carolina last year. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
First North Carolina Civil War Trails Markers Erected
The North Carolina Civil War Trails program is now officially under way with the
installation of several markers designating historically significant sites at various locations
around the state. Markers with explanatory texts, maps, and illustrations have been erected
in Rockingham County, in and around Beaufort, in Plymouth, and at the visitor center in
Historic Edenton. The trails program will link sites in North Carolina to historic locations
in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania to create an “outdoor museum” devoted to the
Civil War. To date, seventy-five sites in thirty-seven localities in North Carolina have
been approved and funded through a local-federal matching arrangement. Although no
state funding is involved, three agencies—the Office of Archives and History of the
Department of Cultural Resources, the Division of Tourism, Film, and Sports Develop-ment
of the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Transportation—have
partnered to facilitate the implementation of the program in North Carolina. Mike Hill
and Mark Moore of the Research Branch of the Office of Archives and History serve as
1 1 4 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
This reproduction of the
1858 Roanoke Marshes
Lighthouse will display
exhibits of the North
Carolina Maritime Museum.
historical advisors, reviewing the texts of the signage and drafting copy for a planned series
of brochures. Additional markers will be installed later this year, including sites in Scot-land,
Hoke, Johnston, Wake, and Durham Counties along the trail of the “Carolinas
Campaign.”
North Carolina Projects Receive National Honors
Three projects involving North Carolinians were honored at the annual meeting of the
American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) at St. Louis on September 30.
An Award of Merit was presented to Catherine Bishir and Michael Southern, co-authors
of an acclaimed three-volume guidebook series on historical architecture in the state. Cer-tificates
of Commendation were awarded to the Office of Archives and History and the
University of North Carolina Press for the revised edition and website of The Way We
Lived in North Carolina. The Historic Beaufort Association was commended for the resto-ration
of the John C. Manson House. Recipients of the awards will also be recognized at
the joint annual meeting of the Federation of North Carolina Historical Societies and the
North Carolina Literary and Historical Association in Raleigh on November 19.
State Students Bring Home Awards from National History Day Finals
Forty-four North Carolina students represented the state at the National History Day
competition in College Park, Maryland, on June 13-17. History Day is a yearlong academic
program that encourages the teaching and learning of history, and helps students improve
their research, writing, analytical, and presentation skills. More than 700,000 students partici-pated
in the program nationwide, of whom only
about 2,000 qualified for the final competition.
Several North Carolina students achieved special
recognition at the event.
Aaron Sausedo, an eighth grader at A. C.
Reynolds Middle School in Asheville, received
the bronze medal for his junior individual docu-mentary
titled, “Monkeying Around: The Story
of America’s First Space Explorers.” Mary Leach
of Charles Owen High School in Black Mountain
received a scholarship to the University of Mary-land.
She competed in the group exhibit category,
and her project was titled, “French Salons: The
Encounter of New Ideas.” Kimberly Gasaway and
Meredith Gasaway of Cane Creek Middle School
in Asheville shared a special prize for an outstand-ing
exhibit on the history of the federal govern-ment.
Their project examined the history of the
Apollo space missions. It also finished among the
top fourteen projects in the country in its
category, as did the following:
Junior group performance titled, “Harriet Tubman: the Moses of Her People,” by Grace
Pulsifer and Erin Bailey of A. C. Reynolds Middle School in Asheville, who received the
Outstanding State award in the junior division.
Senior group documentary titled, “Bascom Lamar Lunsford: Sharing Mountain Culture,” by
Laura Sabato and Rebecca Webb of Charles Owen High School in Black Mountain.
Senior individual documentary titled, “Kagaya Hime: Reflections on Japanese History,” by
Michiko Theurer of South Central High School in Greenville.
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 1 5
Aaron Sausedo of A. C. Reynolds Middle
School, winner of the bronze medal in the
junior individual documentary category at
the National History Day competition,
with his teacher, Diane Fox.
Senior individual exhibit titled, “What a Miracle: Open Heart Surgery,” by Parteek Singla of
J. H. Rose High School in Greenville, who received the Outstanding State award in the
senior division.
Other North Carolina schools sending students to the national competition were A. C.
Reynolds High School in Asheville, David Butler High School in Charlotte, Chase Middle
School in Forest City, St. Peters Catholic School in Greenville, Cornus Christian Home
School in Reidsville, and Four Oaks Home School in Asheville. National History Day is spon-sored
in North Carolina by the Division of Historical Resources of the Office of Archives and
History,with substantial assistance fromthe Federation ofNorth CarolinaHistorical Societies.
News from Historical Resources
Archives and Records Section
Through the auspices of the State Historical Records Advisory Board (SHRAB), the
section is making substantive progress in developing a statewide archival training program
titled, “Archival Education for the 21st Century.” On February 1, the SHRAB received a
National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) grant of $50,621 in
federal funds, matched by an additional $60,753 in in-kind contributions from the
Archives and Records Section for the training initiative. The SHRAB will provide an
ongoing series of practical workshops, addressing the needs for training in basic archival
principles and practices and intermediate-level education in specific areas of archives and
records work. The project’s main goal is to reach and train archival/special collections
personnel at smaller repositories throughout the state. It is based on the results of the
SHRAB’s statewide conference on records, “Charting Our Future,” in November 2001.
Recommendations and evaluations received from the conference were analyzed and
reviewed by the board, and formed the basis for this archival initiative.
The North Carolina SHRAB is working closely with the American Association for
State and Local History (AASLH), and archival/historical societies in New York, Ohio,
and Michigan, to devise the workshop curriculum. Matthew Turi, hired in June as project
archivist for the two-year program, has been developing curriculum for the basic work-shops,
with the assistance of the Project Advisory Board. A preliminary presentation of the
two-day archives “boot camp” workshop will be held October 14-15, in the Archives and
History/State Library Building. The curriculum will be evaluated by participants and
refined in time for the first official SHRAB workshop, scheduled for November 18-19 at
the Lincoln County Cultural Center in Lincolnton. Additional workshops will be sched-uled
this fall. After the two-year SHRAB project is complete, the Society of North
1 1 6 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Carolina Archivists (SNCA) and the State Library’s NC ECHO program have agreed to
take over and continue the archival training.
The section’s Government Records Branch successfully completed its participation in
an electronic records management pilot project being coordinated by the state’s Informa-tion
Technology Services (ITS). Section staff, working with ITS and other state and local
government agencies, tested various records management functions, including the man-agement
of electronic mail, by utilizing software produced by Documentum, a leading
enterprise content management provider. The pilot project was concluded at the end of
August. In cooperation with ITS, the section is evaluating the results to determine poten-tial
uses of Documentum in scheduling public records and helping provide enhanced
intellectual control of State Records Center holdings.
Through the successful application of Information Technology Branch supervisor
Druscie Simpson, the section has been selected to participate in the Electronic Records
Research Fellowship program funded by the NHPRC. The $15,000 fellowship will be
used to research and test methods to create a facility that will allow the preservation of
e-mail, independent of the software used to create it. To develop a solution with the
widest possible application, the State Archives will test the implementation of a server-based
facility using the IMAP protocol to collect the e-mail messages to be converted. In
order to create a solution that will have the most utilitarian benefits, the Archives will
involve the open source software community whenever feasible. It is anticipated that any
deliverables produced during the course of the grant will be returned to and accepted by
this same open source community. The core components that will perform the conversion
of e-mail to XML should provide at the very least a starting point for creating a standard
methodology to encode e-mail as XML. Results of this research will be made available to
the archival community through the Society of American Archivists and National Associa-tion
of Government Archives and Records Administrators at the annual meetings of the
two organizations.
In the Collections Management Branch, preservation toning of security microfilm
recently resumed after a long hiatus imposed by ventilation problems with the toning
processor. With the mechanical problems resolved, the imaging unit supervisor conducted
final testing on security film produced on acetate base that may be too unstable for long-term
preservation. Large scale toning of existing collections, as well as preservation toning
of newly created film, is now under way. This is an important step in assuring the preser-vation
of security microfilm of records in Archives custody.
In September, the Outer Banks History Center (OBHC) opened a new exhibit, Ribbons
of Sand: Batik Art of Barrier Islands by Mary Edna Fraser. The exhibit debuted with a presen-tation
on September 10 in the Roanoke Island Festival Park Film Theatre. A reception
and evening viewing of the exhibit followed in the adjacent History Center Gallery. Mary
Edna Fraser has explored and photographed expansive shoreline vistas for nearly a quarter
of a century. She often works from the open cockpit of her grandfather’s vintage 1946
Ercoupe airplane. Using her aerial photographs, along with satellite images, maps, and
charts, Fraser creates batiks, the process and product of the age-old art of applying dyes to
silk. Fraser’s vibrant depictions focus primarily on barrier islands, the sandy, attenuated,
and dynamic buffers between ocean and mainland that, from a bird’s-eye view, present
some of nature’s most striking patterns. Her artwork has been shown in some of the most
prestigious galleries in the country, and art collectors around the globe have commissioned
her batiks, samples of which can be seen at www.maryedna.com.
Since 1993, Fraser has consulted with Orrin Pilkey, renowned marine geologist at
Duke University, to enhance the detail and accuracy of her batik renderings. The two
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 1 7
are equally inspired by the importance and fragility
of the barrier islands. Their ten-year collaboration
has recently culminated in a critically acclaimed
book, A Celebration of the World’s Barrier Islands. Fra-ser
and Pilkey showed slides from their years of
aerial photography and discussed their ongoing col-laboration.
They then entertained questions and had
books available for purchase and signing. Ribbons of
Sand will remain on display in the OBHC gallery
through December 31.
The Archives and Records Section lost two more
positions to budget cuts at the end of the fiscal year. The Collections Management Branch
was adversely impacted by the loss of a processing assistant IV assigned to the local records
program. The position became vacant after an internal promotion in the processing and
duplication lab. An opening for a records management analyst in the Government
Records Branch was lost in a similar fashion. On a more positive note, the section’s
expansion budget request to improve archival digitization and arrangement and description
work was partially funded by the legislature, due in no small measure to the active support
of Secretary Lisbeth Evans and Deputy Secretary Jeffrey Crow.
Recent Accessions by the North Carolina State Archives
During the months of June, July, and August 2004, the Archives and Records Section
made 204 accession entries. The Archives accessioned original records from Harnett
County. The Archives received security microfilm of records for Alamance, Alexander,
Alleghany, Anson, Ashe, Avery, Beaufort, Bertie, Brunswick, Buncombe, Cabarrus,
Caldwell, Camden, Carteret, Catawba, Cleveland, Cumberland, Dare, Davidson, Dur-ham,
Franklin, Gaston, Guilford, Halifax, Harnett, Haywood, Henderson, Hertford,
Iredell, Jackson, Jones, Martin, Mecklenburg, Montgomery, Moore, Nash, New Hanover,
Northampton, Onslow, Orange, Pamlico, Perquimans, Pitt, Rockingham, Rowan,
Stokes, Surry, Union, Vance, Wake, Washington, and Wayne Counties; and for the
municipalities of Clemmons, Lake Park, New Bern, and Sanford.
The section accessioned records from the following state agencies: Department of
Community Colleges, 1 reel and 182 fiche cards; Department of Cultural Resources, 17
Fibredex boxes and 6 folders; Department of Environment and Natural Resources, 4 reels;
Department of Justice, 15 reels; General Assembly, 4 reels; Governor’s Office, 3 reels;
North Carolina Real Estate Commission, 2 reels; Secretary of State, 39 reels; State Trea-surer,
440 fiche cards; and Supreme Court, 2 fiche boxes and 1 fiche envelope.
The Delia Hyatt Papers (5 cubic feet), the Claudia Thompson O’Brien Papers (84
letters and 5 photographs), and the Julia Wetherington Papers (52 items) were accessioned
as new private collections. Other records accessioned included 34 audio and 13 videotaped
interviews, 1 compact disc, and 1,079 other items, added to the Military Collection; 43
photographs, 207 negatives, and 6 videotapes added to the Non-textual Materials Collec-tion;
4 cubic feet of North Carolina Medical Society Alliance material added to the Orga-nization
Records; and the May 23, 1861, letter from President Jefferson Davis to
Governor John W. Ellis, added to the Vault Collection.
1 1 8 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
This representation of Kitty Hawk was created by Mary
Edna Fraser, using the ancient batik process.
Historical Publications Section
The North Carolina Historical Review is celebrating its eightieth anniversary. The first issue
of the Review, North Carolina’s widely respected journal of history, appeared in January 1924.
Published by the Office of Archives and History, the Review offers a number of regular fea-tures
that have made it a definitive source for the study and understanding of the state’s his-tory.
These include carefully researched, illustrated articles that explore North Carolina and
southern history from the colonial period to the present. Each issue also contains numerous
reviews of recent books about state, regional, and national history. Other annual features
include a bibliography of books on North Carolina subjects or written by North Carolinians,
a selected listing of theses and dissertations on North Carolina topics, and a yearly index in
the October issue. The editors of the North Carolina Historical Review are Anne Miller and
Donna Kelly.
The Review is published quarterly and costs $30.00 for an annual subscription. To sub-scribe,
send a check (payable to N.C. Department of Cultural Resources) to: Historical Pub-lications
Section (C), Office of Archives and History, 4622 Mail Service Center, Raleigh,
N.C. 27699-4622. For credit card orders call (919) 733- 7442, or use the section’s secure
online store at http://store.yahoo.com/nc-historical-publications/.
A new book from the Historical Publications Section examines North Carolina’s exten-sive
program to supply and fit its Confederate amputees with artificial arms and legs. Phan-tom
Pain: North Carolina’s Artificial-Limbs Program for Confederate Veterans (pictured below),
by Ansley Herring Wegner, surveys amputation’s place in Victorian medical science and
the problems disabled veterans faced as they returned to civilian life. In this pioneering
study, Wegner compares North Carolina’s artificial-limbs program with those in other for-mer
Confederate states. She concludes that North Carolina was among the most progres-sive
of the southern states in supporting its disabled and maimed Confederate veterans.
Wegner discusses the several types of artificial limbs patented by inventors during and after
the Civil War. She also examines the reactions of recipients to their new limbs. While
some adjusted with relative ease to the prostheses, others suffered from residual problems
associated with stumps that never healed properly. Many veterans reported phantom pain
from the amputated region.
Phantom Pain includes a useful index to records in the North Carolina State Archives
related to artificial-limb recipients and veterans who requested commutations because
either they had already procured a prosthesis at their own expense
or they were unable to use the artificial limb provided by the
state. The paperback volume is amply illustrated with pictures of
surgical instruments, artificial limbs, and veterans with their
prostheses.
Ansley Herring Wegner, a native of Wilson, is a research histo-rian
in the Office of Archives and History. Before moving to the
office’s Research Branch, she was an archivist in the North
Carolina State Archives. She received an A.B. degree in English
and psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, and an M.A. in public history from North Carolina State Uni-versity.
[See the “New Leaves” article by Mrs. Wegner in this issue.]
Phantom Pain (261 pages, paperbound, illustrated, index) costs $21.05, which includes
tax and shipping, and may be ordered from the address shown above.
The section has recently reprinted several popular titles that have been out of print. Tar
Heels: How North Carolinians Got Their Nickname, by Michael W. Taylor, explains the origins
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 1 9
of the state’s nickname and how and when it gained general acceptance. According to Tay-lor,
the unusual nickname, first used during the Civil War, is testimony to both the humble
but proud origins and the fiercely independent character of North Carolina’s people.
The text of the twenty-four-page paperback is enhanced by fourteen black-and-white
illustrations. A picture of an 1863 diary entry shows the earliest written use of the term
“Tar Heel.” Tar Heels: How North Carolinians Got Their Nickname (24 pages, illustrated,
paperbound) costs $11.42, which includes tax and shipping.
Volume 3 of the Colonial Records of North Carolina [Second Series] has also recently been
reprinted. First published in 1971, North Carolina Higher-Court Records, 1697-1701 sheds
light on many aspects of life in colonial North Carolina. The award-winning North
Carolina Colonial Records Project makes available in printed form the most significant
documents of North Carolina’s rich and varied colonial past. The individually indexed
volumes are invaluable sources of information for local historians, genealogists, students,
and scholars.
Edited by Mattie Erma Edwards Parker, volume 3 of the Colonial Records of North
Carolina contains records of the colony’s higher courts from January 1, 1697, through
December 31, 1701. With the exception of land grants and wills, surviving court records
are the only substantial body of official records for early North Carolina. Court records are
practically the only source on North Carolina’s early legal system, and they contain details
not found elsewhere about political conditions in the colony.
The reprinted volume 3 of the Colonial Records of North Carolina (620 pages, index,
clothbound) costs $58.50, which includes tax and shipping. Single copies of volumes 1, 2,
and 4 through 10 of the Colonial Records are also available; all ten volumes (a $367 value)
may be ordered for only $250, plus tax and shipping. For contents and prices of individual
volumes, call (919) 733-7442, e-mail trudy.rayfield@ncmail.net, or visit the section’s online
store at the address above.
For the first time in many years, volumes 3 through 6 of the best-selling North Carolina
Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster, are again available. In cooperation with book dealer and
publisher Tom Broadfoot of Wilmington, the section is reprinting a limited number of the
first thirteen volumes. Reprinted editions of volumes 1-6 may now be ordered, and pre-publication
orders for volumes 7-13 are being accepted. The reprinted volume 1 (Artil-lery),
volume 3 (First-Third Regiments, Infantry), and volume 5 (Eleventh-Fifteenth
Regiments, Infantry) cost $63.85 each. Volume 2 (Cavalry) of the reprint series costs
$74.95. Volume 4 (Fourth-Eighth Regiments, Infantry) and volume 6 (Sixteenth–
Eighteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-first Regiments, Infantry) cost $69.21 apiece. Prices
include tax and shipping.
1 2 0 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
News from State Historic Sites and Properties
The Division of State Historic Sites and Properties has completed a partial reorganiza-tion.
An expanded Museum and Visitor Services Section, formerly a branch, has been cre-ated
in the division office, and the State Capitol has been placed within the section. Tryon
Palace Historic Sites & Gardens is again an independent section, and the former Capitol
Section, which consisted of Tryon Palace and the State Capitol, has been dissolved. The
Capital Area Visitor Center, located on Blount Street for many years, has been moved to
the North Carolina Museum of History and its staff reassigned to the Division of State
History Museums.
The remnants of Hurricane Charley passed across or near several state historic sites in
mid-August, but damage was minimal compared to other storms of recent years. As usual,
southeastern sites fared the worst, with both Brunswick Town and Fort Fisher losing
power and a number of trees. Limbs and debris were on the ground at both sites, as well as
at Tryon Palace, Bath, and Edenton. The USS North Carolina in Wilmington, not far from
Brunswick Town and Fort Fisher, sustained no damage.
Museum and Visitor Services Section
Recent paranormal studies in the State Capitol have yielded dramatic and startling
results. Longtime Capitol staff members have experienced a number of encounters with
the seemingly inexplicable over the years. Many of their stories have focused on the
Capitol’s third floor, in particular the State Library Room.
In June the Ghost Research Foundation of Pennsylvania, led by
Patty Wilson and Scott Crownover, joined Carolina Ghost Hunt-ers,
represented by Anne Poole of Durham, for an overnight inves-tigation
in the Capitol. Both groups are affiliated with Durham’s
Rhine Research Institute, whose representatives were also present
that night. Several Capitol staff members and invited guests wit-nessed
the investigations. Among the highlights of the evening
were random, audible activations of motion detectors in locked
rooms and in areas where no one was present. Numerous “orbs” of
energy (according to researchers, “residual life energies [spirits] of
individuals”—the most common form that ghosts assume) were
revealed in digital, infrared photographs. Some of the better images
were taken in the old House Chamber, and were also captured by one of the chamber’s
security cameras. In the early hours of June 24, division staff and invited guests felt a rush
of air in the third floor corridor outside of the library room, and smelled the distinct,
unmistakable aroma of cigar smoke wafting through the passage.
The History Channel’s Guts and Bolts series selected the Capitol for an episode that will
detail the technology and methodology of paranormal investigations. Television staff used
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 2 1
Who Ya Gonna Call?—
This spectral image was
captured by a security
camera in the old
House Chamber of
the State Capitol.
the Capitol for two more overnight investigations on August 20-22. The History Channel
invited LEMUR (League of Energy Materialization and Unexplained phenomena
Research) Paranormal of Asheville to lead the weekend investigation, assisted by Anne
Poole. LEMUR has investigated the Grove Park Inn’s “Pink Lady” and successfully
videotaped the legendary Brown Mountain Lights.
As the production company was setting up in the library, Poole noticed on one of the
Capitol’s security monitors a shadowy form standing in the library gallery, a locked,
off-limits area. The form stood between the camera and a light fixture in the gallery for a
minute or two and then rapidly dissolved. Other guests took digital photographs in the
library. When these were subsequently examined, one was found to reveal a large greenish
orb near the central eastern window. Some observers perceived the partial form of a
bearded man with a receding hairline, in mid-nineteenth-century clothing, looking
directly at the camera. The figure appeared to hold a lit cigar in his mouth, a detail that
seemed to correlate with the cigar smoke sensed by attendees in June. The History Chan-nel’s
Guts and Bolts show will air in October.
North Carolina Transportation Museum
Museum staff members started from scratch more than a year ago when they decided to
do an exhibit on the role of women in transportation. “At first, we really didn’t know
what we were getting into,”
admits Walter Turner, museum
historian and a chief coordinator
for Untying the Apron Strings:
North Carolina Women in Transpor-tation,
a temporary exhibit that
opened on August 27. Learning
about the topic proved difficult,
because the available recorded
history is limited.
Untying the Apron Strings
focuses on progress in transporta-tion
by women in the twentieth
century, when new opportunities
began to emerge, primarily in the
field of aviation. Leading the way
during World War II were Mary
Webb Nicholson and the
Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), whose stories are highlighted in the exhibit.
Nicholson, a Greensboro native, was the state’s first licensed female pilot. She ferried
planes in Britain during the war. More than one thousand young women, including a few
from North Carolina, were WASPs in a largely forgotten program that lasted only two
years. The pilots ferried warplanes, towed targets for training anti-aircraft gunners, and
flew many different kinds of planes. After the war, many had trouble finding jobs in avia-tion.
Opportunities finally re-emerged in the 1970s, when the Air Force and commercial
airlines began accepting female pilots. The exhibit shows these advancements by focusing
on women pilots and flight attendants employed by North Carolina’s Piedmont Airlines.
Other North Carolina women lobbied for improved roads and safer transportation, or
started their own transportation businesses. The exhibit tells the stories of some of these
women, including Elizabeth Dole who, as secretary of the U.S. Department of
1 2 2 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Stephanie Hamilton (right), a former pilot for Piedmont
Airlines, points to a Piedmont uniform in the Women in
Transportation exhibit at the North Carolina Transportation
Museum.
Transportation, was instrumental in expanding the use of seat belts and air bags; Harriet
Morehead Berry, who labored for state highway improvements; and Pat Long, who with
her husband Duane founded a Raleigh health-care transport company, Longistics.
Untying the Apron Strings is sponsored by Bonnie McElveen-Hunter and Pace Commu-nications,
North Carolina’s Touchstone Energy cooperatives, the Spencer High School
Class of 1943, and the Spencer Woman’s Club. A $10,000 grant from Pace and McElveen-
Hunter provided an orientation video and publicity for the new show. The exhibit,
featuring rare photos, aviation uniforms, and other artifacts, will be on display through
December.
The North Carolina Transportation Museum Foundation has secured a $10,000 grant
from the Hillsdale Fund for repair of the turntable in the restored Julian Roundhouse,
supplying the balance of the funds necessary to complete the project. Another $25,000
from the Robertson Foundation will be used for track repair and renovation. The
Watauga Valley Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society has donated $6,000
for restoration of the Tweetsie rail car No. 15.
Steam locomotive No. 604 is a step closer to returning to the rails at the museum. Nor-folk-
Southern has pledged $100,000 over two years toward the overhaul of the engine’s
boiler. The locomotive, restored to operating condition in 1987 by retired Southern Rail-way
employees, was the first engine to pull the on-site train. Repairs to its boiler, which
required rebuilding after 1,472 days of service, will cost more than $300,000. If sufficient
funds were available, the work could be done in a year, but waiting for the requisite fund-ing
will delay the project. The museum’s other working steam locomotive, the 1925 Shay,
will be due for rebuilding about 2012.
Repairs have also begun to the Master Mechanic’s Office. Snipes Construction will
handle replacement of a beam in the basement, repair and cleaning of storm drains on the
east side of the building, and construction of a retaining wall and catch basins for water
runoff on the west side of the structure. The project should take about thirty days and will
require the temporary closing of the road beside the office. The repairs should not affect
the train schedule.
Northeastern Historic Sites Section
“Hello, I’m Joseph Hewes,” said the young man at the Historic Edenton reception desk
in June. Fortunately Joe Hewes had called ahead for tour information, and staff members
were expecting the first cousin six times removed of Joseph Hewes (1730-1779), one of
North Carolina’s three signers of the Declaration of Independence. Joe Hewes had come
from New Jersey with his family to the town where his ancestor had been a successful
merchant. In addition to touring the historic district and museums, the family attended
worship services at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (1736), where Joseph Hewes had served as
a member of the vestry. The family also toured the privately owned Joseph Hewes House
(1765). Hewes the younger presented a copy of his family genealogy to Historic Edenton.
The work had been begun in 1935 by his great-grandfather, who researched family history
back to a 1674 land grant in New Jersey. Joe Hewes has added two new generations to the
family record. He also brought with him a large chart that he has compiled containing 285
names of ancestors.
August 13 was a milestone day for Historic Edenton, as the staff welcomed the
700,000th guest to the visitor center. Beth Knittle, her husband Jim, and their children
Andrew and Lindsay were on their way home after a vacation on the Outer Banks when
they stopped at Edenton. The Knittles were thrilled to receive a canvas tote bag full of
Edenton materials. The gifts were donated by the historic site, the James Iredell
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 2 3
Association, the North Carolina Northeast
Partnership, the Edenton-Chowan Chamber of
Commerce, and the Edenton Woman’s Club.
In 1968 the visitor center opened at the water-front
1782 Barker House and welcomed 2,847
visitors. The center relocated in 1992 to the
Ziegler House on North Broad Street, where
annual visitation now averages about 28,000. In
2003 the Historic Edenton staff greeted visitors
from forty-nine states and twenty foreign
countries.
The Wilson Igbo-style wedding held at
Somerset Place last year was featured on a
national television special, hosted by Diane
Sawyer, in June. The wedding marked the first known occasion of the marriage of a
descendant of a former Somerset enslaved person at the plantation. The show was highly
complimentary of the historic site, its staff, and the wedding, which incorporated a num-ber
of traditional Igbo tribal practices into the ceremony and related activities. The Igbo
are a predominant group in southern Nigeria.
Christine Mayo, a recent graduate of East Carolina University, has been awarded the
Alderson Internship Grant by the American Association for State and Local History. She
will research the history of Blackbeard for one of the two exhibits that she will design for
Historic Bath.
Piedmont Historic Sites Section
To commemorate the centennial of
Duke Power Company, forty company
executives and retirees spent a steamy
afternoon in June performing community
service at Duke Homestead. After a catered
lunch, the group received a brief orienta-tion
from the site manager and a safety
overview from the company’s community
affairs manager. The volunteers divided
into six work teams and immediately
jumped into a variety of maintenance pro-jects,
such as spreading seventy-five bales
of pine straw, raking four cubic yards of
gravel on walkways, pruning trees and
shrubs, weeding flower beds, and painting
picnic tables. Even Duke Power Company
president Ruth Shaw assisted with the
exterior cleaning of the 1852 Duke
Homestead.
Roanoke Island Festival Park
A fascinating exhibit of woven textiles from the Middle East opened in the Art Gallery
on September 2. Art collector and dealer Stan Akins, a retired army colonel, has been travel-ing
and buying rugs throughout the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Russia for more than
twenty-five years. While posted in Turkey, he developed an interest in classical carpets and
1 2 4 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
The Knittle family, one of whom was the
700,000th guest of the visitor center at
Historic Edenton.
Duke Power Company vice presidents Sandra P.
Meyer and E. O. Ferrell III power-wash the
exterior of the Duke Homestead as part of the
utility company’s centennial observance.
nomadic weavings, and began dealing in rugs while still in the service. Colonel Akins fre-quently
returns to the area to replenish his stock, and buys directly from the weavers, usually
in their homes over a cup of tea. He maintains a warehouse in Izmir, Turkey.
The collection of kilims and other woven textiles on display were made and purchased
in Turkey, Afghanistan, Russia, Iran, and the Balkans. Two full-scale Bedouin tents,
depicting the traditional nomadic life, are included in the exhibit. An opening reception
was held on September 12. Colonel Akins shared his extensive knowledge of the region and
its rug art in lectures on September 15 and 25. The collection will be on display through
October 27.
Southeastern Historic Sites Section
Less than a year from now, the 140th anniversary of the end of the Civil War will be
marked. To commemorate the occasion, various programs are planned at state historic sites
throughout North Carolina. In November, Fort Fisher will claim the distinction of host-ing
the initial event in the series with the unveiling of a grand exhibit, the famous
Armstrong cannon that defended the fort prior to its surrender in January 1865.
The giant Armstrong, which has been located at the United States Military Academy at
West Point as a trophy of war since late 1865, is the only known surviving heavy seacoast
gun from Fort Fisher. Arranging for this loan, which is still being finalized, has tapped the
resources of Fort Fisher, the Department of Cultural Resources, and representatives from
several historical and preservation organizations.
The 16,000-pound Armstrong barrel is scheduled to be loaned to the site in early
November and will become the focus for the anniversary and observance of the battles at
Fort Fisher. William G. Armstrong’s British
company manufactured the powerful weapon,
which was finished with fine mahogany and
brass. The gun was designed to fire a projectile
weighing about 150 pounds but was seldom
used at Fort Fisher for lack of ammunition.
In addition, a special exhibit is planned for
the visitor center, featuring an artillery uniform
worn by Confederate colonel Thomas J.
Purdie, who was stationed at the fort early in
the war. Purdie Battery, located along the sea
face and presumably named after Colonel
Purdie, was the site of the Armstrong battery.
The uniform, along with Purdie’s saber, valise,
and canteen, will be on loan from the Averasboro Battlefield Commission.
On January 15-16, 2005, Fort Fisher will host a living history program featuring special
tours and demonstrations interpreting the battle. Later that evening a fireworks display,
depicting the Union fleet’s signal of the capture of the fort, will conclude the program.
Funds are being raised for these anniversary programs through the Fort Fisher Restoration
Committee, a nonprofit support group.
Several other state historic sites, primarily in the Southeastern Section, will commemo-rate
the 140th anniversary of the end of the war. The programs will offer many special
opportunities for visitors, tourists, and reenactors. While most of these programs are still in
the planning stages, a preliminary list of events follows:
February 19, 2005 – Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson
140th anniversary program
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 2 5
This enormous Armstrong coastal gun will
return to Fort Fisher to commemorate the
140th anniversary of the fort’s surrender.
March 12, 2005 – CSS Neuse
“Scuttled: The Inglorious Fate of the CSS Neuse”
March 19-20, 2005 – Bentonville Battlefield
140th anniversary reenactment (see the new reenactment website at
www.bentonvillereenactment.com)
April 16-17, 2005 – State Capitol
140th anniversary program
April 23-24, 2005 – Bennett Place
140th anniversary of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s surrender
May 14, 2005 – Aycock Birthplace
“Occupation through a Child’s Eyes” (Union occupation of Goldsboro)
June 2005 – Vance Birthplace
Civil War living history program, date to be announced
September 2005 – Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson
Civil War “Battle of the Bands” program, date to be announced
October 2005 – Aycock Birthplace
African American education after the Civil War
November 19-20, 2005 – CSS Neuse
Civil War naval living history program
Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens
One of the palace’s prized eighteenth-century portraits will soon be taken out of storage
to be featured in a major national exhibit. The portrait by John Wollaston of an unknown
British officer has an inscription on the back of the canvas identifying the subject as William
Tryon, royal governor of North Carolina from 1765 to 1771. But the uniform worn by the
officer is not historically correct for the governor, so the painting has languished in storage
pending proper identification. Scott Stephenson, an independent research curator working
for the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, became interested in the
portrait as he assembled materials for the center’s upcoming exhibit, Clash of Empires: The
British, French and Indian War, 1754-1763. From a photograph, Stephenson determined that
the uniform was appropriate for a British officer in North America during the French and
Indian War. At his request, the portrait will be loaned to the history center for inclusion in
the display. The exhibit will open in the center’s new Smithsonian Gallery on May 1, 2005,
and be on display until the following April. It will then travel to the Canadian War Museum
in Ottawa before moving on to the Smithsonian International Gallery in Washington, D.C.
Western Historic Sites Section
The James K. Polk Memorial hosted a program about the presidential yacht USS
Sequoia on June 19. Timothy L. Besmer, executive vice-president of the Sequoia Presi-dential
Yacht Group, lectured on the history of the vessel and displayed artifacts relating
to the eight presidents, beginning with Herbert Hoover, who used the yacht as a meet-ing
place and retreat. The boat was the site of many significant twentieth-century
events, including the negotiations between Richard Nixon and Russian leaders that led
to the first arms control treaty between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. In 1977, Presi-dent
Jimmy Carter sold the vessel in an effort to cut costs. The Sequoia has since been
privately restored and is currently moored at Washington, D.C., where it may be
rented (for $10,000) for a four-hour cruise on the Potomac River. The program was
the second installment in the 2004 James K. Polk Lecture Series, which features talks
and programs on presidential history.
1 2 6 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
News from State History Museums
North Carolina Maritime Museum at Beaufort
A generous donation by a longtime patron of the museum will underwrite the con-struction
of a new rowing center at Beaufort. Samuel “Bennie” Thomas presented the
Friends of the Museum with a check for $25,000 in honor of his wife, an avid rower. The
Dr. Marcy Wertz Thomas Rowing Center will serve as the home of the Beaufort Oars
and a new sliding seat rowing program, and will include a floating dock, boathouse, and
shed to house the shells.
North Carolina Museum of History
The museum staff continues to develop innovative outreach programs utilizing the lat-est
technological advancements. This fall, the museum is offering three virtual field trips
for fourth- and fifth-grade students around the state and beyond. These two-way interac-tive
videoconferencing classes travel along the North Carolina Information Highway.
Educators at the museum in Raleigh can engage students hundreds of miles away with
discussion-provoking artifacts from the repository’s vast collection, then answer questions
about the objects. For some of the lessons, touch objects and reproduction artifacts, or
perhaps historical photographs or a short video, may be sent to the school in advance.
Beginning September 20, the three fifty-minute virtual field trips were presented at
9:00 and 10:00 A.M., Monday through Wednesday. The subject areas offered this fall are
Moccasins to Motorcars, an examination of the evolution of transportation in the state,
utilizing photographs and maps; History Mystery, in which students learn how historians
unravel the mysteries of the past through observation, analysis, and hypothesis; and North
Carolina’s American Indians, which explores the contemporary culture as well as the fasci-nating
past of the state’s original inhabitants. For more information, contact Claudia Noble
at (919) 807-7987, or by e-mail at claudia.noble@ncmail.net.
To commemorate the statewide two-year Celebration of North Carolina Craft, the
museum is showcasing a changing selection of handcrafted items from its immense collec-tion.
From July 13, 2004 to March 6, 2005, the Celebration of North Carolina Craft exhibit
features works by native African American artisans. Artifacts in the display range from util-itarian
quilts and baskets to elaborate woodcarvings. One of the oldest and most valuable
items in the exhibit is a mahogany sideboard crafted by Thomas Day, the renowned free
African American cabinetmaker from Milton. Other nineteenth-century pieces include a
quilt with an appliqué portion sewn by slaves at Mount Holly plantation in Pender
County, and another quilt stitched by Mary Barnes, a former slave in Wilson County.
African American craftsmanship of the twentieth century is represented by a set of colorful
woodcarvings by the late Arliss Watford Sr. of Ahoskie, a winner of the North Carolina
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 2 7
Folk Heritage Award, and brightly painted wooden dancing dolls created by George
SerVance Jr. of Thomasville.
The Celebration of North Carolina Craft during 2004 and 2005 is sponsored by the
North Carolina Craft Coalition, which is supported by the North Carolina Arts Council.
The next exhibit rotation at the Museum of History will feature the repository’s collection
of fiber and textiles.
With the Raleigh-based African American Cultural Complex, the museum served
as co-host for the 2004 Association of African American Museums Conference on
August 18-21. This year’s theme was “Generation Next: Preparing Professionals and
Visitors for African American Museums.” The opening reception, “Celebrating North
Carolina’s Cultural Treasures,” was held at the Museum of History and the neighboring
Museum of Natural Sciences, and featured Chuck Davis and the African American Dance
Ensemble. The Association of African American Museums is a nonprofit organization that
supports national and international museums and professionals. For more information
about the association, access its website at www.blackmuseums.org.
Staff Notes
In the Archives and Records Section, Caroline Walters has been hired as a records
management analyst II in the Government Records Branch. Christine Dumoulin was
employed as an archivist I at the Outer Banks History Center.
In the Division of State Historic Sites and Properties, Carol Henderson retired at the
end of July as administrator of the State Capitol. She was manager of the Visitor Center
for ten years before coming to the Capitol in 1998. Earlier in the month, Andrea Bogart
resigned as assistant administrator of the State Capitol to accept a position with the
National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C. Lea Walker, formerly an
administrative secretary with the State Archives, was named site manager of the Capitol.
Teresa Martindale, who worked for many years at Alamance Battleground, has separated
on long-term disability from her position as facilities maintenance coordinator at the
1 2 8 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
LEFT: This patchwork quilt, pieced together from dress scraps by Eliza Helen Rogers Arrington of
Cary in 1940, is one of several unique quilts included in the exhibit of African American crafts on
display at the North Carolina Museum of History. RIGHT: Moses, carved from cherry wood by
George SerVance Jr. of Thomasville in 1993, is also featured in the Celebration of North Carolina Craft
exhibit.
Charlotte Hawkins Brown Memorial. At Reed Gold Mine, Bob Remsburg, who was
assistant manager there some years ago, has been named site manager. Misty Ebel is the
new public information officer at the North Carolina Transportation Museum. In the
division office, Ryan Lewis is the new exhibits designer. Betsy Lawson has resigned as
office assistant III at the Thomas Wolfe Memorial.
In the Division of State History Museums, Candace Reasons retired as chief budget
officer after thirty-four years of service in the Department of Cultural Resources. She
began her career as a stenographer in the Local Records Section in November 1970 and
worked for many years in the departmental budget office before moving to the museum.
Kay Wyche retired from her position as editor in chief and head of the Communications
and Publicity Section. She spent the first eighteen of her twenty-eight years of state service
with the Historical Publications Section, where she started as a transcribing typist in Janu-ary
1977. She has been with the museum since 1995. Jeff Rhodes has assumed the position
of museum specialist (audiovisual technician). Elizabeth F. Buford, director of the division,
received the 2004 Women in Business Award from the Triangle Business Journal.
Obituary
Rita Adams Cashion, longtime employee of the Office of Archives and History and the
wife of Dr. Jerry C. Cashion, chairman of the North Carolina Historical Commission, died
on July 23 after a long battle with cancer. She was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, and raised
in Henderson. Prior to joining the office (then division) in 1985, she worked for FCX (now
Southern States) in Raleigh. In her fifteen years with the division, Mrs. Cashion worked in
the Research Branch, the State Archives, and the director’s office. As administrative secretary
to the director, she assisted the work of the Federation of North Carolina Historical Societies
and the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association. She will be remembered for her
quiet efficiency, her subtle good humor, the delight she took in her two young grandchil-dren,
and the courageous determination with which she faced her illness.
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 2 9
Upcoming Events
October 8-9 Roanoke Island Festival Park. Friends of Elizabeth II Antiques Fair.
Dealers offer antiques and collectibles, with proceeds benefiting the Friends
of Elizabeth II. $5 for two-day pass, free for children under twelve and
Friends of Elizabeth II. 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
October 9 North Carolina Museum of History. Preserving Your Family Papers.
Sarah E. Koonts, preservation officer at the North Carolina State Archives,
covers the basics of preserving paper and books in this workshop, co-sponsored
by the Archives. 10:00 to 11:30 A.M. Register by October 5
at (919) 807-7968.
October 10 North CarolinaMuseum of History. Music of the Carolinas: Rayna Gellert
and Kenny Jackson. Two of the finest fiddle players in the state perform
old-time music in this program co-sponsored by PineCone. 3:00 to 4:00 P.M.
Roanoke Island Festival Park. Carolista Music Festival. Second annual
music festival featuring local and national female performers, and celebrating
the achievements of the diverse community of artists, culinary divas, and
businesswomen of the Outer Banks. Performers include Albita, Beverly
Watkins, and The Camaros. Tickets are $20 at the gate; children under
twelve admitted free. Proceeds will benefit the Outer Banks Hotline. Gates
open at 1:00 P.M.
1 3 0 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Upcoming Events
October 11-15 Alamance Battleground. Colonial Living Week. A weeklong living
history program for schoolchildren and the general public. Reservations
required for groups. 9:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. daily.
October 13 North Carolina Museum of History. History à la Carte: A Voice of
Their Own: Raleigh and the Woman’s Suffrage Movement. Ken
Peters, coordinator of education and outreach at the Raleigh City Museum,
discusses the contributions of local individuals and organizations to both
sides of the issue in the campaign for female suffrage. 12:10 to 1:00 P.M.
October 15 North Carolina Maritime Museum, Beaufort. Faces from the Flood. On
the fiftieth anniversary of Hurricane Hazel, Jay Barnes, director of the
North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, presents a slide lecture
comparing Hazel to Hurricane Floyd and other recent storms. Barnes
collaborated with Richard Moore, state treasurer of North Carolina, to
compile Faces from the Flood: Hurricane Floyd Remembered, signed copies of
which will be available for purchase. 2:00 P.M.
October 16 Horne Creek Living Historical Farm. Cornshucking Frolic. Annual
festival celebrates the autumnal harvesting, shucking, shelling, and grinding
of corn. Traditional rural activities include cider making, quilting,
woodworking, craft demonstrations, and wagon rides. A $3 donation is
requested; nominal fee for food and drink. 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial. Charlie the Alligator’s
Family Fun Day. Kids of all ages learn about a sailor’s daily life by
becoming one for a morning. The opportunity to climb into a berth, man
a gun, or holystone the deck is included in the regular price of admission.
9:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.
October 18 North Carolina Maritime Museum, Beaufort. European Lighthouses.
Annamaria “Lilla” Mariotti, a researcher and writer from Camogli, Italy,
presents a slide lecture about notable European lighthouses from ancient
times to the present. 2:00 P.M.
October 22-23,
29-30
Reed Gold Mine. The Bloody Reign of the Mad Miner. Enjoy
Halloween with haunted mine tours, hayrides, ghost stories around the
campfire, children’s games, and performances by Chaz the Magician. Fee.
7:00 P.M. to 1:00 A.M.
October 22-24 North Carolina Museum of History. Artists at Work: American
Needlepoint Guild. Members of the Raleigh chapter of the guild
demonstrate the stitching of beautiful designs. 1:00 to 3:00 P.M.
October 23 Duke Homestead. An Evening at the Homestead. The Duke
Homestead Junior Interpreters host an afternoon of food, music, nineteenth-century
children’s literature, and wagon rides. Guests are invited to bring a
picnic basket and blanket for dinner on the grounds. 2:00 to 6:00 P.M.
Historic Bath. Tar Heel Mysteries and Legends. Learn about fourteen
North Carolina ghost stories and legends in a half-hour video. A staff
member will also share the spooky legends of Bath. 7:00 P.M.
USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial. Battleship Alive. World War
II living history demonstrators bring the ship to life by re-creating daily
duties and drills. 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
October 24 North Carolina Maritime Museum, Beaufort. Maritime Watercolors.
Opening reception for exhibit of watercolors by North Carolina artists and
their students. 2:00 to 4:00 P.M. During the following week, visitors may
observe the exhibited artists teaching a water-color workshop at the
museum. Exhibit will run through January 2, 2005.
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 3 1
Upcoming Events
October 30 Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex. Days of Constant Sorrow.
Opening of exhibit, featuring photographs, artifacts, and a tenant farm
cabin, that examines life in southeastern North Carolina during the Great
Depression. Exhibit will run through October 30, 2005.
North Carolina Museum of History. Day of the Dead/Dia de los
Muertos. Learn about the traditional Mexican holiday that honors
deceased loved ones. The bilingual festival features a decorated altar,
samples of traditional foods, and the making of crafts. A morning workshop
for children ages eight to twelve will demonstrate how handmade sugar-skull
ornaments are made and used. Workshop, 9:00 to 11:00 A.M., festival,
12:00 to 4:00 P.M. $10 fee for workshop; register by October 22 at (919)
807-7969.
November 6 Historic Bath. North Carolina Crafts Fair. Get an early start on
Christmas in the Year of the Craft by shopping at this special fair featuring
traditional Tar Heel crafts. 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
North Carolina Maritime Museum, Beaufort. Boatshop Bash. Annual
fund-raising evening social hosted by the Friends of the Museum in the
Watercraft Center features great food, musical entertainment, and a silent
auction. Contact the museum at (252) 728-7317 for an invitation.
Polk Memorial. President Polk Birthday Celebration. Costumed
interpreters evoke late-eighteenth-century life at the site of James K. Polk’s
boyhood home. Activities include children’s games, crafts, and demonstrations
of cooking and musketry. 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
November 7 Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex. Sounds of the Great
Depression. Program features a variety of music from the era of the Great
Depression. 2:00 to 4:00 P.M.
Roanoke Island Festival Park. M. Charles – A Retrospective. Opening
reception for exhibit of the works of M. Charles, pseudonym of Donald
Leary, an artist who came to the Outer Banks in the fifties and captured the
essence of the northern coast before it was developed. 4:00 to 6:00 P.M.
The exhibit will run November 3-29.
November 10 North Carolina Museum of History. History à la Carte: Serving with
Honor. Command Sergeant Major (Ret.) Tadeusz Gaweda, who survived
a concentration camp and served for thirty-five years in the U.S. Army,
shares his inspiring story and recounts a recent visit with the American
troops in Iraq. 12:10 to 1:00 P.M.
November 11 State Capitol. Veterans Day Parade. The state’s veterans will be honored
with a parade, a wreath-laying ceremony, and patriotic music by the Enloe
High School Concert Band. 11:00 A.M.
November
13-14
Roanoke Island Festival Park. Elizabethan Tymes: A Country Faire.
Step back in time four hundred years for demonstrations of Renaissance
music, dance, and fencing, and programs on Elizabethan history, weaponry,
and falconry. Merlin’s Marketplace will offer handmade pottery, jewelry,
and costumes. 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
November 14 Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex. Live! At the Arsenal.
Re-enactors in the uniforms of Arsenal guards direct guided tours of the North
Carolina Arsenal, relating the history of the building and describing the daily
lives of soldiers there in the years before the Civil War. 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.
1 3 2 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Upcoming Events
November 19 North Carolina Museum of History. American Indian Heritage
Education Day for School Groups. In one-hour sessions, students
(K-12) can visit teaching stations staffed by members of the eight
recognized tribes of North Carolina to learn about Native American crafts,
music, dancing, foodways, games, and storytelling. Teachers will receive
supplemental materials for use in the classroom. $5 per student; register by
November 5 at (919) 808-7950.
November
19-21
North Carolina Museum of History. Artist at Work: Brenda Silva. A
member of the Haliwa-Saponi tribe creates dance regalia to be worn at
powwows. 1:00 to 3:00 P.M.
November 20 North Carolina Museum of History. Ninth Annual American Indian
Heritage Celebration. Members of the eight state-recognized tribes of
Native Americans come together to celebrate their heritage. Visitors can
observe artists create pottery, baskets, beadwork, and stone carvings; watch
traditional dancers in colorful regalia perform to the rhythms of drum
groups; play Native American games; and listen to stories and legends.
Funding provided by Target Corporation. 11:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
November
20-21
CSS Neuse/Governor Caswell Memorial. Civil War Navy Living
History Program. The role of the navy and Marine Corps in the Civil
War is the focus of the program, with demonstrations of artillery,
musketry, and life aboard a nineteenth-century ship. Saturday, 10:00 A.M.
to 4:00 P.M., Sunday, 12:00 to 4:00 P.M.
December 3, 10 Duke Homestead. Christmas by Candlelight. Evening tours of the
homestead, featuring period decorations, caroling, and hot apple cider,
highlight the celebration of an 1870 Christmas. 7:00 to 9:00 P.M.
December 4 Bentonville Battlefield. Christmas Open House. The kitchen will be
decked out with natural decorations of holly and magnolia branches,
cotton stalks, and cranberry strands, while costumed interpreters discuss
the ways the common Civil War soldier spent his furlough time with
family and friends. 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
Museum of the Albemarle. I’ll Be Home for Christmas. The final
Christmas program in the “old” museum building focuses on the 1940s
and examines the ways soldiers and sailors celebrated the holidays while
away from home. 12:00 to 3:00 P.M.
Polk Memorial. Candlelight Tours. Holiday program explores
Christmas celebrations from the late eighteenth century and features living
history vignettes, open hearth cooking, and the firing of muskets. Fee.
6:30 to 9:00 P.M.
December 4 Reed Gold Mine. Christmas Celebration. Open house offers guided
underground and stamp mill tours, music by hand bell and vocal choirs,
and craft demonstrations. 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
Roanoke Island Festival Park. The Cashore Marionettes. This
internationally acclaimed group redefines the art of puppetry. The
program, Simple Gifts, is a series of poignant scenes from everyday life set
to the music of Vivaldi, Strauss, Beethoven, and Copland. Performances in
the Film Theatre at 10:00 A.M., 2:00 P.M., and 7:30 P.M. Fee.
December 5 Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum. Christmas Open House. The
Canary Cottage is decorated for a 1940s Christmas as the museum and the
campus of Palmer Memorial Institute celebrate the season. Local choirs
will perform. 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 3 3
Upcoming Events
December 5 Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex. Holiday Jubilee. Christmas
program features a special tour of the 1897 Poe House in period decorations,
Civil War living history vignettes at Arsenal Park, a toy workshop, Christmas
carols, and a visit from Santa in costume from the 1860s. 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.
Roanoke Island Festival Park. The Art Collection of the Town of Nags
Head. Opening reception for exhibit of more than sixty works by local
artists, including Glenn Eure, Linda Crassons, Michael Halminski, Marcia
Cline, Ray Matthews, Petie Brigham, and Rick Tupper, collected during
the past six years by the Town of Nags Head. 4:00 to 6:00 P.M. Exhibit
will run from December 3 to December 30.
December 7 Bennett Place. Christmas Open House. Holiday program features Civil
War period music, cooking, and children’s activities. 1:00 to 4:00 P.M.
December 7-8 Horne Creek Living Historical Farm. Christmas by Lamplight. Enjoy
the food and music of a turn-of-the-twentieth century rural Christmas.
Admission $8 for adults, $5 for children six to twelve. Call (336) 325-2298
to make required reservations for a specific hour, 4:00 to 8:00 P.M.
December 8 North Carolina Museum of History. History à la Carte: Toys from
Old Salem. Johanna Brown, curator and director of collections at Old
Salem, presents a slide lecture about the Toy Museum’s collection of
antique toys. 12:10 to 1:00 P.M.
December 9 State Capitol. State Tree Lighting, Capitol Open House, and
Holiday Festival. Traditional ceremonies include musical performances
and the lighting of luminaries on Capitol Square (5:00 P.M.), the lighting of
the State Christmas Tree by Governor and Mrs. Easley (6:00 P.M.), and a
holiday festival embracing the Capitol grounds, Bicentennial Plaza, and the
state history and natural science museums, hosted by the Junior Woman’s
Club of Raleigh. 5:00 to 8:00 P.M.
December 10-11 Historic Edenton. Christmas Events. Two days of special seasonal activities
include caroling on the courthouse green (Friday, 6:00 P.M.), the Barker
House Holiday Repast (Friday and Saturday, 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.), self-guided
candlelight tours of historic homes (Friday and Saturday, 4:00 to 8:00 P.M.),
the Cupola House Wassail Bowl (Friday and Saturday, 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.),
and the renowned Iredell House Groaning Board (Friday and Saturday, 1:00
to 5:00 P.M.).
December 11 House in the Horseshoe. Christmas Open House. The historic house
will be decorated for the season, with music in the parlor and refreshments
on the lawn. 12:00 to 5:00 P.M.
December
11-12
State Capitol. Civil War Christmas Enactment. Re-enactors
demonstrate Civil War drills and show children how to dip candles and
make period Christmas ornaments. Saturday, 10:00 A. M. to 5:00 P.M.,
Sunday, 12:00 to 4:00 P.M.
December 12 Alamance Battleground. Christmas Open House. 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.
Historic Bath. Christmas Open House. Enjoy seasonal music, apple cider,
and fresh gingerbread, and tour the 1734 St. Thomas Episcopal Church, the
1751 Palmer-Marsh House, the 1790 Van Der Veer House, and the 1830
Bonner House, all decorated in period holiday fashion. 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.
North Carolina Museum of History. Music of the Carolinas: Triangle
Shape Note Singers. Learn about soul-stirring shape note music, a part
of North Carolina life since the 1800s, and sing along with the chorus.
Co-sponsored by PineCone. 3:00 to 4:00 P.M.
December
14-15
Horne Creek Living Historical Farm. Christmas Open House. Tour the
Hauser Farmhouse and enjoy light refreshments. 1:00 to 3:00 P.M.
Colleges and Universities
Duke University
Dr. Sarah (Sally) Deutsch has succeeded Dr. John Thompson as chair of the history
department.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Dr. W. Miles Fletcher has succeeded Dr. Jay Smith as associate chair of the Department
of History. On July 1, Dr. Smith was promoted to professor, and Dr. Jerma A. Jackson
and Dr. Lisa A. Lindsay to associate professor. Dr. Michael Tsin has joined the faculty as
an associate professor, as have Dr. Heather Williams and John W. Sweet as assistant profes-sors.
Dr. Donald G. Mathews has retired.
Recent publications by members of the faculty include: William L. Barney, The Ameri-can
Journey: A History of the United States, 4th ed., 2 vols. (Upper Saddle River, N.J.:
Prentice Hall, 2004); Christopher Browning, The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution
of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939-March 1942 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,
2004); John Chasteen, National Rhythms, African Roots: The Deep History of Latin American
Popular Dance (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2004); John Chasteen,
co-ed., Problems in Modern Latin American History (Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources,
2004), and Beyond Imagined Communities: Reading and Writing the Nation in Nineteenth-
Century Latin America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004); Michael H.
Hunt, The World Transformed: 1945 to the Present (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s Press,
2004), and The World Transformed: A Documentary Reader (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s
Press, 2004); Jerma A. Jackson, Singing in My Soul: Black Gospel Music in a Secular Age
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004); Richard Talbert, The Romans
and Their History: From Village to Empire (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004); and
Richard Talbert, co-ed., Space in the Roman World: Its Perception and Presentation (Munster:
LIT Verlag, 2004).
State, County, and Local Groups
Cape Fear Museum of History and Science
On September 18, the museum introduced a new exhibit, simply titled 20th Century.
The interactive exhibit is designed to showcase the museum’s extensive collection of
regional objects from the 1900s and to highlight significant stories of the past century. The
rapid and dramatic changes to the Cape Fear region engendered by such momentous
events as World War II, the exodus of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, Hurricane Hazel,
the opening of Interstate 40, and the technological revolution are explored.
Former director Janet K. Seapker, who worked for the Office of Archives and History
from 1971 to 1978, received the Alderson Award from the North Carolina Museums
Council in honor of her lifetime contributions to the museums profession.
Forest History Society
The society has selected the article, “Live Dunes and Ghost Forests: Stability and
Change in the History of North Carolina’s Maritime Forests,” by Jim Senter, as the win-ner
of its 2003 Theodore C. Blegen Award, honoring the best article on forest and conser-vation
history published during the year. The article appeared in the July 2003 issue of the
North Carolina Historical Review and was nominated for the award by Anne Miller, editor of
the Review.
1 3 4 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Greensboro Historical Museum
A new exhibit exploring the world of golf in general, and the Greater Greensboro
Open in particular, opened at the museum on October 2. Golf the Greatest Game features
memorabilia collected from the local community by the Jaycees, founders of the Greens-boro
tournament. Programs, posters, the first “Green Coat” awarded to the victor in
1956, video clips and a ticket from the 1938 tournament won by Sam Snead, and fifty
years of photographs by Carol W. Martin are among the items on display. The exhibit also
pays homage to the “Greensboro Six,” a group of African Americans arrested for trying to
integrate the Gillespie Park golf course in 1955. Golf the Greatest Game will run through
February 27, 2005.
Lower Cape Fear Historical Society
Last summer, the society introduced a new concept to tours of historical structures,
pairing each building with the cuisine of a local restaurant and focusing on particular
themes. The Flavor of the Past tour was so well received that the society decided to
reprise the event. Adopting as a general theme, “Wilmington Occasions,” the program
was held on August 21, just days after Hurricane Charley blew through the Cape Fear
region. The five participating historic houses and museums, their restaurant partners,
and the particular occasion developed by each included: the Bellamy Mansion Museum
and The Pilot House (1861 housewarming); the Cape Fear Museum of History and Sci-ence
and Caffe Phoenix (1900 family picnic); the DeRosset House-Historic Wilmington
Foundation and the City Club (antebellum wedding); the Latimer House and Circa
1922 (Victorian mourning); and the Wilmington Railroad Museum and the Water
Street Restaurant, the only new participant in the tour (going off to war, 1942). Each
site offered a unique educational program to accompany thematically inspired food
samplings. Tour participants could move from place to place at their own pace, availing
themselves of the free shuttle service provided by the Wilmington Trolley Company.
Three houses of worship in historic Wilmington—the First Presbyterian Church, the
Temple of Israel, and St. Stephen AME Church—offered tours and hourly programs of
faith-based period music.
The Lower Cape Fear Historical Society will once again sponsor the Old Wilmington
by Candlelight Tour on December 4-5. A custom for thirty-one years, the tour of the
historic district is the traditional send-off to the Christmas season in Wilmington. A num-ber
of historic homes, each decorated according to its owner’s particular taste and the
individual history of the house, will be open to tour participants. A number of downtown
churches will throw open their doors as well. This year refreshments will be available for
purchase at the Community Arts Center. Tour hours are Saturday, 4:00 to 8:00 P.M., and
Sunday, 2:00 to 6:00 P.M. Tickets may be purchased for $20 from November 1 through
November 18, and for $25 thereafter. For group discounts or for further information, call
the society at (910) 762-0492.
New Bern Historical Society
The society will co-sponsor the fourteenth annual New Bern at Night Ghost Walk on
three consecutive nights, October 21-23. This year’s spectral event focuses on spirits from
the Revolutionary War and will feature the former manager of the Masonic Theatre, as
well as the usual crowd of restless souls in Cedar Grove Cemetery. Last year’s walks drew
nearly four thousand visitors. Advance tickets may be obtained for $13 (a $3 discount off
the gate price) from the society at (252) 638-8558. Other sponsors of the traditional
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 3 5
Halloween week event are the Framing Fox Art Gallery and the Twenty-sixth North
Carolina Infantry Reenactors.
The Phoenix Society for African American Research, Inc.
The society will sponsor its annual Tarboro African American Historical Sites tour for
fourth graders in the Edgecombe County public school system on October 14-15. The
tour showcases eleven sites that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and
will provide living history demonstrations on the craftsmanship of a farrier, quilting,
tobacco looping, domestic basket weaving, sedge broom making, and soap making. A spe-cial
feature of the tour will be an exhibit in the Quigless Clinic of vintage dolls and doll
furniture from the Cozetta Barnes Gray Collection. Mrs. Gray has been collecting dolls for
the past fifty years; her collection includes ethnic and period dolls and doll furniture.
Railroad House Historical Association of Lee County
The association has undertaken the restoration of the Endor iron furnace, a massive
structure built about 1862 to smelt iron for the Confederacy. The furnace, which has been
idle since the 1870s, was constructed of locally quarried one-ton blocks of brownstone and
stands nearly forty feet tall. The property, listed on the National Register of Historic
Places, was recently acquired by the Triangle Land Conservancy and donated to the state.
The historical association plans to raise the necessary funds to stabilize and preserve the
furnace, conduct an archaeological survey of the area, and improve access to the site. For
further information, write to: Endor Iron Furnace Campaign, Railroad House Historical
Association, P.O. Box 1023, Sanford, NC 27331-1023.
“The Writing of Phantom Pain and the Search for a
Jewett’s Patent Leg”
By Ansley Herring Wegner
EDITOR’S NOTE: Ansley Herring Wegner is the author of Phantom Pain: North Carolina’s Artificial-
Limbs Program for Confederate Veterans, published in September 2004 by the Historical Publications
Section. She also wrote an article titled, “Phantom Pain: Civil War Amputation and North Carolina’s Maimed
Veterans,” which appeared in the July 1998 issue of the North Carolina Historical Review. She is the author
of History for All the People: 100 Years of Public History in North Carolina (Raleigh: Office of Archives
and History, 2003). Mrs. Wegner has been with the Office of Archives and History since December 1994.
I began my research into North Carolina’s artificial-limbs program in 1997 while work-ing
as a reference archivist in the North Carolina State Archives. Reference staff members
were expected always to have a project on which to work during slow times and on Mon-days
when the search room was closed to the public. I was particularly drawn to a set of
boxes on the shelves near the front of the stacks. They had temporary paper labels on
them that read “Artificial Limbs Collection,” and they appeared to be letters and forms to
the Artificial Limbs Department from county officials and maimed veterans. The range of
1 3 6 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
New Leaves
dates was from 1866 to about 1871. Having long been interested in the history of medi-cine,
and understanding the potential value of the papers to both historical researchers and
genealogists, I decided to try to get those papers arranged and described so that they could
be better utilized. While working on the arrangement, questions arose that led me to
other series of records containing similar items related to North Carolina’s maimed Con-federate
veterans. I decided to create a name index to all of the documents, so that a
researcher could look up a veteran’s name and find all the records pertaining to the man’s
inquiries to and dealings with the Artificial Limbs Department. Sometimes the records are
so complete that one can follow a man from inclusion on his county’s list of amputees,
through his forms for obtaining a limb, to the invoice for the limb, and finally to the entry
in the auditor’s accounts stating that payment was made.
As my work with the documents progressed, I grew more curious about the artificial-limbs
program. When I realized that there was not going to be an easy way of finding out
more—either through a secondary source or from a knowledgeable historian—I decided
to write an article on the program. Even after I was promoted to the Research Branch of
the Office of Archives and History, I was allowed to continue work on the project as time
allowed. What started out as an article, with the accompanying index of documents, has
recently been published by the Historical Publications Section of Archives and History as a
book—Phantom Pain: North Carolina’s Artificial-Limbs Program for Confederate Veterans.
The name of the book derives from that mysterious pain that seems to come from a
missing limb, an obstacle faced by almost all amputees. It was not only uncomfortable but
also disconcerting, particularly during the early stages of recovery. Phantom pain occurs
when raw nerve endings send signals to the brain that are misconstrued, and the brain
assigns the pain to a limb that no longer exists. A good example of how the brain can mis-interpret
signals is the headache that occasionally follows the eating of cold foods (the pro-verbial
“ice cream headache”). Nerves in the roof of the mouth are along the same pathway
as those in the forehead; the brain sometimes misreads signals from the roof of the mouth
and transmits the pain to the forehead. Similarly, pain in an amputee’s stump may be
ascribed to the amputated region by the brain, as the pathway of the nerves has been inter-rupted.
Regardless of the scientific explanation, this painful specter of the amputee’s miss-ing
limb often hinders rehabilitation. Psychological healing, strength, and confidence are
crucial factors to recovery, and with proper adjustment, phantom pain frequently decreases
over time. The use of an artificial limb is an important step in regaining confidence and
beginning the healing process.
The North Carolina General Assembly passed a resolution on January 23, 1866, asking
Gov. Jonathan Worth “to make a contract with some manufacturer of artificial limbs to
supply the need of the State at an early day.” By way of explanation, the resolution stated:
“it is considered an eminent work of charity and of justice to assist all with the common
funds of the State to procure necessary limbs, and thus to restore them, as far as practica-ble,
to the comfortable use of their persons, to the enjoyment of life and to the ability to
earn a subsistence.”1
An editorial that appeared in Raleigh’s Daily Standard the day on which this resolution
was introduced mentioned the Federal program for supplying limbs and encouraged sup-port
for a similar program in North Carolina to serve Confederate veterans. The writer
claimed that the legs would “make the man almost over again” and allow him to become
a “producer” rather than a “consumer.” The following day the Raleigh Sentinel included
an article declaring that the resolution was “a timely and eminently proper movement”
and that “the State owes them, at least, this small token of her appreciation . . . prompted
by humane and honorable motives.” Nowhere can any opposition to the resolution be
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 3 7
found. The Standard writer went so far as to state that “no act could be passed which
would be more acceptable to our people. They will cheerfully pay the small amount of
taxes necessary to effect this object.”2
In response to the mandate, Governor Worth advised the General Assembly on Febru-ary
12, 1866, that he would ask each county sheriff for information about the number of
limbs that would be required for his county, specifying the numbers of legs and arms.
Worth speculated that more amputated arms would be reported because soldiers’ legs were
protected by breastworks, and because leg amputations were more likely to cause fatal
complications. According to the numerous sheriffs’ lists in the State Archives, slightly more
arms than legs were reported as missing. From the researcher’s perspective, it is useful that
most sheriffs did not simply make lists of the number of limbs needed, but provided the
names of each amputee and which limb was missing.3
In a letter to the General Assembly in February 1866, Worth expressed support for a
contract with Jewett’s Patent Leg Company of Washington, D.C., because a native North
Carolinian was working in the establishment. Silas M. Stone of Franklin County had writ-ten
to Worth in January about John T. Ball, a “master Leg maker” who wanted to return
home. Ball had previously made harnesses and cabinets in New Bern. Stone, a veteran of
the Fifty-fifth Regiment North Carolina Troops, had lost a leg after being wounded at
Gettysburg. He had purchased an artificial leg from Jewett’s in 1865 for one hundred dol-lars.
Pleased with the leg and the work of Ball, Stone proposed a plan to bring the crafts-man
back to North Carolina to oversee the manufacture of artificial limbs.4
A. H. St. John of Jewett’s Patent Leg Company offered North Carolina two contract
options in March 1866. The first would have allowed the state to buy exclusive rights to the
leg by purchasing two patents for twelve thousand dollars. The patents, numbers 16,360 and
29,494, were issued to Benjamin W. Jewett of Gilford, New Hampshire, in 1857 and 1860,
respectively. In addition, Jewett’s would furnish for ten dollars a set the wooden blocks,
springs, and joints needed to manufacture the legs. The second option required that the state
provide Jewett’s with a building in North Carolina where limbs could be manufactured and
pay the company a five-thousand-dollar advance. Jewett’s would then sell legs to the state
for seventy-five dollars each. Governor Worth opted for the latter plan, keeping open for
one month the option to purchase the patents.
The contract signed in April 1866 reduced the
cost of each leg from seventy-five to seventy
dollars.5 There is no evidence that the state
ever purchased the patents.
The building provided to Jewett’s was in
Raleigh, but the exact location is unknown.
Governor Worth, however, described the site
in an April 1866 letter in which he asked if the
state may occupy a building “in the north part
of the city,” which was “used—perhaps
erected, for the manufacture of bayonets.”6
The Raleigh bayonet factory was conveniently
located near the shops and terminus of the
Raleigh and Gaston Railroad, near the junction
of North and McDowell Streets.
1 3 8 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
The Jewett Patent Leg once worn by
Robert Alexander Hanna, a Confederate
veteran from Anson County.
Whether in imitation of the Federal artificial- limbs program or in response to pleas from
maimed veterans, North Carolina devised a plan by which the amputees incurred no out-of-pocket
expenses while in Raleigh. In addition, the state issued railroad passes for the trip to and
from the capital. The fittings and adjustments usually took a couple of days, and a house
was provided for the amputees’ accommodations during this time. The governor advised
them to bring blankets for bedding and a basket of bread and dried meat for their meals.
The degree of satisfaction among recipients of North Carolina’s artificial limbs varied
widely. As human nature dictates, letters of complaint are more likely to be written than
ones expressing praise. So there are more letters from dissatisfied veterans, requesting new
limbs or, more commonly, petitioning for commutation money in exchange for the return
of a limb, than from those who were pleased. The general consensus among the discon-tented
was that their stump was not conducive to the use of an artificial limb. Amputees
complained of pain, difficulty of movement, and problems with the operation of their
apparatus. J. L. Cathey of Asheville, who had lost his right leg after being wounded at
Chickamauga, said that while he could walk on the leg in the shop in Raleigh, once he
got home to the hills of Buncombe County he could not walk on the uneven ground out-side.
He went on to say, “I have worn it one time and since that time I cannot get my leg
in it to try it anymore[.] my stump is to short for a Leg of the fashion mine is.” Similar
comments were made about artificial arms. J. M. McLean, who lost his right arm as a result
of a wound received at Gettysburg, wrote: “I can say that the arm is really of no service to
me, except to fill the vacancy. It is an incumbrance & hurts me to wear it. The money
would be of more service to me than the arm.”7
There were, of course, some expressions of appreciation, such as that from Pinkney M.
Amos, who had served in the Forty-fifth Regiment North Carolina Troops and lost his left
leg after being wounded during Jubal Early’s Maryland Campaign in the summer of 1864.
Amos wrote, “I have used my leg sucksessfuly & worne out the straps So that I must have
new.” B. F. Fonville wrote one of the few extant letters praising the artificial arm: “I am
well pleased with it[.] I can use it in riding or hold my paper in wrighting or holding any
thing that is not to heavy it is of a good deal of servis to a man that [is obliged] to use
one[.] I would not be without it for what I had to pay for it.” Fonville evidently pur-chased
an arm for fifty dollars before the state began to provide them. W. R. Ferguson
stated that he utilized his artificial leg with the help of a cane but complained that “it
makes so much fuss any one can [hear] it be fore I get in a hundred yards.” Ferguson was
apparently aware of the relative ease with which the leg could be repaired, for he asked
the Artificial Limbs Department for “2 ½ yards of Indian-rubber & 24 small brass screws”
and for directions as to how to oil
the joint.8 Fixing the leg was so easy
that even such requests for spare
parts and instructions were rare.
The Jewett’s Patent Leg was
known, and in part selected, for its
simple repairs.
The facility operated by Jewett’s
Patent Leg Company in Raleigh
remained open until June 18, 1867.
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 3 9
A close-up view of the foot of the
Jewett Patent Leg, showing its movable
parts.
At that time, it was reported that the shop no longer had enough work to continue on-site
manufacturing, but that Ball would remain in Raleigh to complete repairs and make new
limbs on demand.
According to records, the total cost of the artificial-limbs program to the state from
1866 to 1871 was $81,310.12. The first two years of the program were the most expen-sive,
with $22,656.29 spent in 1866 and $54,403.83 in 1867. By 1868, the total was only
$3,470. That fell to $150 in 1870, and by 1871, there were no reported expenses.9
Unquestionably, North Carolina’s artificial-limbs program faced difficulties, but with
public and governmental support, the state persevered. Even the Reconstruction govern-ment
continued the program established by its predecessors until all known amputees were
provided with either limbs or commutations. The strong public sentiment that the veter-ans
should be compensated carried the program to fruition despite the federal administra-tion’s
general disdain for Confederate veterans. The phantom pain of the amputees and of
a devastated society was meliorated in North Carolina by the artificial-limbs program.
While conducting my research, I learned some basic details about the Jewett’s Patent
Leg. However, I could not find an existing example. I contacted a succession of museums
over the years, hoping that they might have a Jewett Leg, only to be told that they did
not. I remained mindful that outside of museums, there would be artifacts such as artificial
legs in private hands. Every time I was told about a leg that had belonged to one of the
state’s Confederate veterans, however, it ended up being either a peg leg, another home-made
substitute, or in rare cases, a different model of the variety of commercially available
legs. Since the reported owners of the peg legs could be found in the records as having
received a Jewett Leg, it became clear to me that the manufactured legs likely wore out.
In April 2003, Jason Tomberlin, then the correspondence archivist with the North
Carolina State Archives, informed me that he had received a request from Duncan
Hanna of Red Springs for the Confederate pension application filed by his grandfather,
Robert Alexander Hanna. Tomberlin called my attention to Hanna’s note at the bottom
of the page, in which he casually men-tioned
that he had his grandfather’s
artificial leg, “if anybody cares.” I
promptly wrote a letter to Hanna
expressing my interest in the leg, and
included my e-mail address. After
years of disappointment, I remained
hopeful that there might be a Jewett
leg out there. A few weeks later I
received an e-mail with no text except
for the name “Duncan Hanna” and
the notation that it included several
attachments. As I clicked through the
pictures—he sent one of every imag-inable
angle—I actually got dizzy. The
photographs not only closely resem-bled
contemporary sketches of the
Jewett’s Patent Leg, but one photo-graph
of the bottom of the foot of
1 4 0 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Duncan Hanna of Red Springs, with his
grandfather’s rare artificial leg.
Hanna’s prosthesis showed several distinct features specified on those sketches.
With the intention of having more photographs made of the prosthesis, I arranged a
meeting between Alan Westmoreland, Archives and History photographer, and Duncan
Hanna. Ultimately, Hanna generously allowed the photographer to return with the leg to
Raleigh so that the photographs could be taken in the studio, and so that I could person-ally
examine it more closely. Len Hambleton, conservator at the North Carolina Museum
of History, was so captivated with the artifact that he agreed to clean it and perform some
repairs. The wood infill on the foot helped to secure the hinge and keep the toe area from
separating. Hambleton’s work helped make it possible for me to positively identify the leg
as a Jewett’s Patent Leg—because after all of the dust and debris had been extracted, I was
able to see the pulleys that are shown in detail in Jewett’s patent sketch.
Duncan Hanna’s grandfather, Robert Alexander Hanna, enlisted in Anson County on
July 1, 1861, in Company K, Twenty-sixth Regiment North Carolina Troops. Exactly
two years later, at Gettysburg, he was wounded in the head and the left leg. It was
reported on his pension application that he was wounded just above the ankle joint and
that the wound suppurated for about a month before the amputation was performed.10
Hanna was fortunate that the infection did not become systemic. In June 1866, he made
his first contact with the state in an effort to procure an artificial leg, submitting a form to
Gov. Jonathan Worth’s office. Jewett’s Patent Leg Company invoiced the State of North
Carolina, which paid for Hanna’s leg in January 1867.
According to Duncan Hanna, his grandfather tended to save the Jewett Leg—his
“Sunday-go-to-meeting-leg”—for special occasions, having made other prostheses,
including one that had a bull’s hoof for a foot, to help him perform his farm work. Likely
it was Hanna’s prudence that insured the survival of his Jewett Leg. It is certainly a delicately
made device. The bottom of the foot was damaged from wear, presenting clear evidence
as to how these legs wore out. Robert Alexander Hanna died in 1917 at about eighty-five
years of age—having had his Jewett Leg for fifty years. That he kept and maintained the
Jewett Leg throughout his own life is extraordinary, and that his descendants did the same
is no less remarkable. The state received inquiries related to or directed to the Artificial
Limbs Department from 1,550 maimed veterans. Hanna’s is the only Jewett Leg known to
exist in North Carolina. It is currently on display in the visitor center at Bentonville Bat-tlefield
State Historic Site in Johnston County.
Notes
1. Resolutions, January 1866, General Assembly Session Records, State Archives, Office of Archives
and History, Raleigh.
2. “Legs for Soldiers,” Raleigh Standard, January 19, 1866; “The Legislature,” Raleigh Sentinel,
January 20, 1866.
3. Correspondence Relating to Artificial Limbs, 1866-1869, Box 41.5, Civil War Collection,
Military Collection, State Archives, Office of Archives and History, Raleigh; Jonathan Worth,
Governor’s Papers, 1866, State Archives, Office of Archives and History, Raleigh.
4. Silas M. Stone to Jonathan Worth, March 6, 1866, Correspondence Relating to Artificial Limbs,
Box 41.5, Civil War Collection.
5. Box 41, Civil War Collection.
6. Jonathan Worth, Governor’s Papers, April 1866.
7. J. L. Cathey, Box 41.1, Civil War Collection; J. M. McLean, Box 41.3, Civil War Collection.
8. Pinkney M. Amos, Box 41.1, Civil War Collection; B. F. Fonville, W. F. Ferguson, Box 41.2,
Civil War Collection.
9. Treasurer’s Cash Book 4, Treasurer’s and Comptroller’s Papers, State Archives, Office of Archives
and History, Raleigh.
10. Robert A. Hanna, 1913, Applications for Confederate Pensions, Series 2, State Auditor’s
Records, State Archives, Office of Archives and History, Raleigh.
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 4 1
Carolina Comments
(ISSN 0576-808X)
Published quarterly by the Office of Archives and History
North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
Raleigh, North Carolina
Jeffrey J. Crow, Editor in Chief
Kenrick N. Simpson, Editor
Historical Publications Section
Office of Archives and History
4622 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-4622
Telephone (919) 733-7442
Fax (919) 733-1439
www.ncpublications.com
Presorted Standard
U.S. Postage Paid
Raleigh, NC
Permit No. 187

Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections.

The Odyssey of the Periauger
The sounds and rivers of eastern North Carolina bore witness this summer to a vessel
once common on those waters but not seen there for nearly two centuries. After more than
seven months of construction involving thirty volunteers working 8,400 man-hours, a rep-lica
of a periauger, the workboat of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, was built at
the North Carolina MaritimeMuseumWatercraft Center in Beaufort. A partnership consisting
of the museum, the Perquimans County Restoration Association (parent organization of the
1730 Newbold-White House: A Colonial
Quaker Homestead), Perquimans County,
and the East Carolina University Program in
Maritime Studies, the Periauger Project was
funded through private donations and
enhancement monies from the North
Carolina Department of Transportation. Its
purpose was to construct a working replica of
a periauger, the generic term for a two-masted
boat made from a split dugout cypress
log with a plank keel insert, which could be
propelled by either oars or sails. The vessel
would eventually be moored at the
Newbold-White House near Hertford,
where it would serve as an interpretative
teaching tool.
Many hands were involved in the design
and construction of the log boat. Michael B.
Alford, former curator of maritime research
at the museum and author of Traditional
Workboats of North Carolina, provided the
design, based upon his own research and that
of Dr. Larry Babits, a maritime archaeologist
and historian at East Carolina University,
Carolina
Comments
VOLUME 52, NUMBER 4 OCTOBER 2004
Published Quarterly by the North Carolina Office of Archives and History
The Periauger, a replica of the workboat of colonial
North Carolina, was built at the North Carolina
Maritime Museum at Beaufort. The log boat
recently completed a three-week odyssey to its
home port in Hertford. All images by the Office of
Archives and History unless otherwise indicated.
Harry Pecorelli, and Deirdre O’Regan. LuAnn Pendergraft applied her considerable grant-writing
skills to obtaining the essential funding. Paul E. Fontenoy, the current curator of
maritime research at the Maritime Museum, served as project coordinator, and Montgomery
Spindler as project director. From the design, Alford, Fontenoy, and Spindler produced first a
model, then working plans, which they presented to the project boat builder, Craig Wright.
Construction of the periauger began in November 2003, and the keel was laid on Janu-ary
16. In the meantime, masts and sweeps were prepared by another crew of volunteers at
Hertford. While still in the early stages of construction, the hull was displayed at the
museum’s Wooden Boat Show on May 1. In a ceremony on June 19, the vessel was appro-priately
christened Periauger and finally, on July 12, it was launched. The Periauger is thirty feet
long with a beam of seven feet. The two masts are about twenty-five feet tall, each supporting
1 0 8 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
A Message from the Deputy Secretary
For those readers who have followed this column or
heard me speak at meetings of boards and commissions,
you know that the news on the budget has not been
good for many years. That changed during the 2004
session of the North Carolina General Assembly. At least
partially reversing a trend dating back to 1991, the
General Assembly took positive action to reinforce and
expand the programs of the North Carolina Office of
Archives and History.
To be sure, the agency absorbed another across-the-board
budget cut of 2 percent for fiscal year 2004-2005, but that reduc-tion
was offset by an expansion budget in several critical areas of the program.
Although the Archives and Records Section lost two vacant positions in the budget
cuts, it received an additional five positions to manage digital archives and bolster
efforts in the area of electronic records. The Museum of the Albemarle in Elizabeth
City received six positions to staff its handsome new facility on the banks of the
Pasquotank River. After several false starts in which appropriations for the chrono-logical
exhibit in the North Carolina Museum of History disappeared during budget-ary
crises, the General Assembly provided $1.2 million to begin preparation of that
long-awaited exhibit. With an appropriation of $560,000, the General Assembly also
took steps to remedy environmental concerns at the site of the new History Educa-tion
Center for Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens in New Bern. Further budget
provisions created two heritage tourism positions to promote a Civil War corridor in
eastern North Carolina, and a position to manage and maintain the landscape at
Roanoke Island Festival Park.
Other parts of the program—especially state historic sites, the State Historic Pres-ervation
Office, and the Office of State Archaeology—continue to suffer from cumu-lative
budget cuts. Still, the new appropriations underscore the importance of history
to the cultural, educational, and economic health of the state. Without the support of
Governor Mike Easley, Secretary of Cultural Resources Lisbeth Evans, and members
of the General Assembly, the funding would not have been possible.
Let’s hope that this year’s appropriations signal a new trend. Thoughtful citizens
recognize that the arts, libraries, and history make a dynamic contribution to North
Carolina’s quality of life and economy. The new budget reflects that belief and
commitment.
Jeffrey J. Crow
a single Bermuda sail. The boat was designed with eight rowing stations, each equipped with
a twelve-foot sweep.
After the log boat was outfitted, it was put through a series of sea trials before setting off
on a three-week odyssey to its destined home port of Hertford. Calls at Oriental, New
Bern, Washington, Bath, Belhaven, and Manteo were included on the itinerary. A contin-gent
of thirty volunteers enlisted to serve on the six-to-eight-person crew that rotated
about every four days. Another eighty people and forty boats assisted with transportation
and provisions. John Ernst, commander of the expedition, donated the use of his boat, the
Destiny, which served as the primary towboat and was piloted during the voyage by his
wife Joan. Noel and Myra McKechie of Hertford provided the Kiwi Magic as the quarter-master
vessel and served hot meals for the crew throughout the trip. Various vessels served
as support boats for billeting the crew; originally, the Twilight Time, offered by Harold
O’Briant of Durham, filled the role.
Even before the Periauger was under way, the
weather played havoc with the itinerary. Strong
winds and heavy rain from Hurricane Charley
forced the postponement of the scheduled
launch on August 15. The boat was returned to
the Watercraft Center shed to wait out the
storm. Meanwhile, a party was held at the
Maritime Museum to honor the staff members
and volunteers who had constructed it, during
which Montgomery Spindler presented certifi-cates
of appreciation to the volunteers.
The original schedule had the first leg of the
voyage along the Intracoastal Waterway from
Beaufort to Oriental, then up the Neuse River
to New Bern the following morning. But to
make up for the day lost to inclement weather,
Ernst decided to transport the boat overland to
New Bern. The eighty-minute haul was
accomplished without incident, though cer-tainly
turning a few heads along U.S. 70. The
initial crew, consisting of Harold O’Briant and other members of the Durham Sail and
Power Squadron, were put through the paces of basic rowing instructions while the
Periauger was still strapped to its trailer. Finally, the log boat was gently lowered into the
waters of the Trent River. After sailing back and forth several times for the benefit of
WUNC-TV cameramen, the vessel made an official entrance at the docks of the Sheraton
Grand New Bern Hotel and Marina.
The Periauger docked for two full days at New Bern, with the crew taking her out for
daily excursions on the river. Other members of the project sold commemorative tee shirts
and talked with visitors along the waterfront, while Ernst and Ken Ries (who, with Bill
Anderson, were along for the entire journey) gave a slide presentation at Tryon Palace.
On August 19, the log boat and its escort vessels departed for Oriental. The morning was
hot and still, so the Periauger was hitched to the Destiny and towed down the wide Neuse.
As the boats approached the harbor at Oriental, the wind picked up, so the crew scuttled
over to the Periauger and sailed smoothly into port. A fresh crew, which included Larry
Babits, replaced the Durham contingent, whose colonial-era outfits, prepared by seam-stresses
at the Newbold-White House, received an overdue trip to the cleaners.
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 0 9
The Periauger under sail.
After laying over a day at
Oriental, during which time
adjustments were made to the
rigging, the Periauger set sail for
the next scheduled anchorage at
Goose Creek. The morning of
August 21 brought brisk winds laden with the promise of an afternoon thunderstorm. The
new crew experimented with various tacking and sweeping maneuvers, and soon discov-ered
that the boat was quite heavy and could not be quickly stopped. With the favorable
winds, the log boat was soon running along the southern reaches of Pamlico Sound at its
maximum speed of 6.5 knots. But after lunch, as the winds reached 16 knots, the sails
were furled on both the Periauger and the Destiny, and the towline attached. The boats
gained the relative haven of the Intracoastal Waterway as the clouds burst and the winds
gusted at 24 knots. But the Destiny grounded on a shoal in the canal, and before the crew
of the Periauger could react, the log boat ran up on the stern of the towboat, denting the
soft cypress nose of the Periauger.
The next morning, the fleet cleared the Intracoastal Waterway and proceeded up the
Pamlico River towards Washington. Because they were running behind schedule, the
Periauger was again tied to the Destiny and, with the motor running and both boats set to
full sail, soon reached a speed of 8 knots. The vessels arrived safely in the harbor at
Washington in the late afternoon.
Another two-day layover allowed additional changes to the crew, minor repairs to the
log boat, visitations by media representatives, presentations to a couple of civic groups, and
a barbecue at Chocowinity for the project staff and crew. A sliver of wood protruding
from the foremast about four feet above deck had been detected at Goose Creek, but
closer inspection at Washington revealed that it was not, as feared, a stress fracture. Com-mander
Ernst contacted Craig Wright, the builder, who said the mast was not compro-mised
and could be repaired with a spot of epoxy. The same tincture was applied to the
minor compression damage on the nose of the Periauger.
On August 25, the Periauger and her escorts resumed the journey with a short fourteen-mile
jog to Bath. The Destiny towed the log boat most of the distance, but the wind rose as
the crew was eating lunch, and again they were able to sail the Periauger into an easy landing
at the dock at Bath. The next day, two groups of schoolchildren from Bath Elementary
School came down to visit the strange looking boat and were given a hands-on rowing les-son—
on the dock. A re-enactor dressed as Blackbeard came aboard for a short sail, but the
Periauger ran too close to the Kiwi Magic and became entangled in its anchor line.
The next leg of the journey, another short run down the Pamlico River and up the
Pungo to Belhaven, was nearly disastrous. The Periauger sailed smartly out of Bath on
August 27 but was soon running against the wind, and the towline to the Destiny was reat-tached.
Again, both motor and full sails were utilized. The winds and seas rose as the boats
neared Wades Point, when the crew aboard the towboat noticed that the main mast of the
Periauger was gyrating wildly along the floor of the vessel. A large wooden dowel that
1 1 0 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Part of the revolving crew of the
Periauger at work, (left to right) Bill
Anderson, captain of the boat, Ken
Ries, Mike Butler, and Reid London.
Photo courtesy of Larry Babits.
attached the mast to its step had worked loose, and the spar was held upright solely by its
passage through the thwart. Commander Ernst sent Bill Anderson, captain of the Periauger,
over to the log boat to cut away the sails and retrieve the blocks and halyard before the
mast snapped. No sooner had he done so than the mast went crashing down into the
water. Anderson was able to retrieve the spar from the river and stow it on the floor of the
log boat. Meanwhile, the engine on the Destiny had fouled, leading to a few uneasy
moments in the rough seas. But the towboat, on sail power alone, finally got around the
turn and into the shelter of Pungo River. The fleet limped into Belhaven before dark.
Commander Ernst decided the following day to haul the damaged log boat overland to
Manteo, the next scheduled port of call, and a truck was summoned from Hertford. He
also arranged for the spare solid masts, made in Hertford during the winter, to be trans-ported
from Beaufort to the workshop at Roanoke Island Festival Park (RIFP). While the
Destiny, the Kiwi Magic, and other support vessels sailed up the Intracoastal Waterway to
the Alligator River and Albemarle Sound, the Periauger and its replacement masts con-verged
on Manteo aboard separate trailers, a far cry from the spectacular entrance on
Roanoke Island so eagerly anticipated.
On the last day of August, Ernst, Anderson, and other crewmen worked with Carroll
Williams, maintenance supervisor at RIFP, and master mechanic Robbie Putnam, interim
master of the Elizabeth II and the Silver Chalice, to fit the new mast. They tested the new
spar, which featured a larger, stronger step, and was wider through the partners, on the water
the following day and found it to be quite strong. Another minor problem, a split on the
rudder port, was bandaged with line. In the meantime, members of the crew presented
another program on the construction and history of the Periauger in the film theater at RIFP.
On September 2, Ann Jones, site manager of the Newbold-White House museum,
came down to Manteo for a sail on the repaired Periauger. During the excursion, Ernst dis-covered
that the step tenon on the foremast had broken, in the same manner that the aft
mast had done on the Pamlico. The crew returned to port, removed the sails and rudder,
unstepped the masts, and once again hauled the log boat onto its trailer. It was driven to
Hertford the following day.
On the morning of September 11, a rested and repaired Periauger sailed into the harbor
at Hertford. Its grand arrival was the highlight of the annual Indian Summer Festival in
Hertford and Winfall and the concurrent Hearth & Harvest Festival at the Newbold-
White House. Fittingly, the Periauger, whose predecessors patrolled the sounds of the Car-olinas
and Georgia in the early eighteenth century, was escorted into harbor by a Coast
Guard patrol boat. A fleet of kayaks swarmed around the curious looking vessel as it passed
beneath the bridges at Hertford. The crew was again decked out in eighteenth-century
period costumes, and came ashore to mingle with the crowd, explain the history and con-struction
of the boat, and recount its recent odyssey through eastern North Carolina. The
Periauger will be moored for awhile at Hertford before moving on to its permanent home
at the nearby Newbold-White House.
[The editor gratefully acknowledges the contributions of Larry Babits, John Ernst, Ann Jones, Jane Wolff, Tanya
Young, and the excellent website of the Newbold-White House (http://newboldwhitehouse.org) to this article.]
Entries for North Carolina Book Awards Announced
The following titles have been entered in the North Carolina Book Awards competi-tions,
sponsored by the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association (NCLHA) in
cooperation with the Historical Book Club of North Carolina, the Roanoke-Chowan
Group of Writers and Allied Artists, and the North Carolina Division of the American
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 1 1
Association of University Women (AAUW). More about the awards can be found at:
http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/affiliates/lit-hist/awards/awards.htm. Winning entries in each
category will be announced during the joint annual meeting of the NCLHA and the
Federation of North Carolina Historical Societies, which will take place in Raleigh on
November 19.
OLD NORTH STATE AWARD (nonfiction)
Andrews, William L., ed. North Carolina Slave Narratives: The Lives of Moses Roper, Lunsford
Lane, Moses Grandy, and Thomas H. Jones. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
Press, 2003.
Browning, Christopher R. The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish
Policy, September 1939-March 1942. Lincoln and Jerusalem: University of Nebraska Press
and Yad Vashem, 2004.
Clotfelter, Charles T. After Brown: The Rise and Retreat of School Desegregation. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 2004.
Covington, Howard E., Jr. Favored by Fortune: George W. Watts and the Hills of Durham.
Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, 2004.
Gaillard, Frye. Cradle of Freedom: Alabama and the Movement that Changed America.
Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2004.
Harris, William C. Lincoln’s Last Months. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004.
Jenkins, Carol L., ed. Widows and Divorcees in Later Life: On Their Own Again. New York:
Haworth Press, 2003.
Lattimore, Robin Spencer. Across Two Centuries: The Lost World of Green River Plantation.
Rutherfordton: Hilltop Publications, 2003.
Lynch, Sheri. Hello, My Name is Mommy: The Dysfunctional Girl’s Guide to Having, Loving
(and Hopefully Not Screwing up) a Baby. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2004.
Moore, Richard, and Jay Barnes. Faces from the Flood: Hurricane Floyd Remembered. Chapel
Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004.
Morton, Hugh. Hugh Morton’s North Carolina. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
Press, 2003.
Orr, Elaine Neil. Gods of Noonday: A White Girl’s African Life. Charlottesville: University
of Virginia Press, 2003.
Otterness, Philip. Becoming German: The 1709 Palatine Migration to New York. Ithaca:
Cornell University Press, 2004.
Pease, William H., and Jane H. Pease, eds. The Roman Years of a South Carolina Artist:
Caroline Carson’s Letters Home, 1872-1892. Columbia: University of South Carolina
Press, 2003.
Rivenbark, Celia. We’re Just Like You, Only Prettier: Confessions of a Tarnished Southern
Belle. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2004.
Rusher, Tom. Until He is Dead: Capital Punishment in Western North Carolina History.
Boone: Parkway Publishers, 2003.
Sanders, Lynn Moss. Howard W. Odom’s Folklore Odyssey: Transformation to Tolerance
through African American Folk Studies. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2003.
Sparks, Nicholas, and Micah Sparks. Three Weeks with My Brother. New York: Warner
Books, 2004.
Straw, Richard A., and H. Tyler Blethen, eds. High Mountains Rising: Appalachia in Time
and Place. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004.
Weissman, Gary. Fantasies of Witnessing: Postwar Efforts to Experience the Holocaust. Ithaca:
Cornell University Press, 2004.
1 1 2 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
SIR WALTER RALEIGH AWARD (fiction)
Bowen, Michelle Andrea. Second Sunday. West Bloomfield, Mich. and New York: Walk
Worthy Press and Warner Books, 2003.
Chadwick, Cynn. Girls with Hammers. New York: Harrington Park Press, Haworth Press,
2004.
Fortune, Gwendoline Y. Family Lines. Gretna, La.: Pelican, 2003.
Hampton, Lynette Hall. Jilted by Death. Johnson City, Tenn.: Silver Dagger Mysteries,
Overmountain Press, 2003.
Maron, Margaret. Last Lessons of Summer. New York: Mysterious Press, Warner Books,
2003.
May, John. Poe and Fanny. Chapel Hill: Shannon Ravenel Book, Algonquin Books, 2004.
Mountford, BJ. Bloodlines of Shackleford Banks. Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, Publisher,
2004.
Parker, Michael. Virginia Lovers. Harrison, N.Y.: Delphinium Books, 2004.
Price, Charles F. Where the Water-Dogs Laughed: The Story of the Great Bear. Boone: High
Country Publishers, 2003.
Saterstrom, Selah. The Pink Institution. Saint Paul, Minn.: Coffee House Press, 2004.
Schulman, David. The Past is Never Dead. Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, Publisher, 2004.
Scott, Joanna Catherine. Cassandra Lost. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2004.
Wyche, Blonnie Bunn. The Anchor: P. Moore Proprietor. Wilmington: Banks Channel
Books, 2003.
Young, Jon M. Roger Maris Died Yesterday. Boone: Parkway Publishers, 2004.
ROANOKE-CHOWAN AWARD (poetry)
Chappell, Fred. Backsass. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2004.
Cox, Mark. Natural Causes. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004.
Eaton, Charles Edward. The Work of the Sun. Cranbury, N.J.: Cornwall Books, 2004.
Kirkpatrick, Kathryn. Beyond Reason. San Antonio: Pecan Grove Press, 2004.
Reevy, Tony. Magdalena. Columbus, Ohio: Pudding House Publications, 2004.
Rigsbee, David. The Dissolving Island. Kansas City: BkMk Press, 2003.
Smith-Soto, Mark. Our Lives are Rivers. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003.
Suk, Julie. The Dark Takes Aim. Pittsburgh: Autumn House Press, 2003.
West, John Foster. High Noon in Pompeii. Boone: Parkway Publishers, 2004.
AAUW AWARD (juvenile literature)
Dessen, Sarah. The Truth about Forever. New York: Viking, 2004.
Flood, Pansie Hart. It’s Test Day, Tiger Turcotte. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 2004.
Froeber, Sarah. Pelican and Pelicant. Chapel Hill: Toucan Press, 2003.
Jones, Elizabeth McDavid. Ghost Light on Graveyard Shoal. Middleton, Wis.: Pleasant
Company Publications, 2003.
Powell, Consie. Amazing Apples. Morton Grove, Ill.: Albert Whitman & Company, 2003.
Price-Groff, Claire. Thomas Alva Edison: Inventor and Entrepreneur. New York: Franklin
Watts, Scholastic Inc., 2003.
Wyche, Blonnie Bunn. The Anchor: P. Moore Proprietor. Wilmington: Banks Channel
Books, 2003.
The afternoon program of the annual meeting will focus on western North Carolina.
Historians Timothy Silver and Richard Starnes will speak on the environmental history of
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 1 3
the Appalachians and tourism in the North Carolina mountains, respectively. For the eve-ning
program, award-winning novelist Allan Gurganus, author of Oldest Living Confederate
Widow Tells All, will be the keynote speaker.
Renovated Boathouse, New Lighthouse on Roanoke Island Dedicated
The George Washington Creef Boathouse in Manteo, home to the Roanoke Island
branch of the North Carolina Maritime Museum and birthplace of the Elizabeth II, was
rededicated during a gala community celebration on September 25. The boathouse was
severely damaged a year ago by Hurricane Isabel and has required extensive repairs and
renovations. The Town of Manteo also dedicated the new Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse,
a working reproduction of the 1858 screw-pile lighthouse
that stood off the south end of Roanoke Island where Croatan
and Roanoke Sounds meet. The original light was decommis-sioned
in 1955 and subsequently crumbled into the water
when an effort was made to move it. The new lighthouse,
built on the site of the town’s old wastewater treatment
plant on the east side of the island, will guide vessels into
Shallowbag Bay. Both the boathouse and the lighthouse will
house educational activities, including permanent and rotating
exhibits, of the North Carolina Maritime Museum. Dedica-tion
ceremonies featured a free community cookout, music by
Bett Padgett and Dulcimer Dan, costumed interpreters from
Roanoke Island Festival Park and Chicomacomico Lifesaving
Station, and remarks by John Wilson, mayor of Manteo.
Humber House to Receive Repair and Renovation Funds
The historic Robert Lee Humber House in downtown Greenville, home to the Eastern
Office of Archives and History since 1983, has been granted $565,000 from the state repair
and renovation fund, Gov. Michael F. Easley announced on August 23. The house is in
desperate need of extensive repairs, including stabilizing the foundation, replacing the roof,
rebuilding a porch and leaky windows, and conducting widespread electrical and plumbing
work. Built in 1895 by Robert Lee Humber Sr., the colonial revival house was deeded by the
Humber family to the City of Greenville and Pitt County in 1980, and donated to the State of
North Carolina last year. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
First North Carolina Civil War Trails Markers Erected
The North Carolina Civil War Trails program is now officially under way with the
installation of several markers designating historically significant sites at various locations
around the state. Markers with explanatory texts, maps, and illustrations have been erected
in Rockingham County, in and around Beaufort, in Plymouth, and at the visitor center in
Historic Edenton. The trails program will link sites in North Carolina to historic locations
in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania to create an “outdoor museum” devoted to the
Civil War. To date, seventy-five sites in thirty-seven localities in North Carolina have
been approved and funded through a local-federal matching arrangement. Although no
state funding is involved, three agencies—the Office of Archives and History of the
Department of Cultural Resources, the Division of Tourism, Film, and Sports Develop-ment
of the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Transportation—have
partnered to facilitate the implementation of the program in North Carolina. Mike Hill
and Mark Moore of the Research Branch of the Office of Archives and History serve as
1 1 4 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
This reproduction of the
1858 Roanoke Marshes
Lighthouse will display
exhibits of the North
Carolina Maritime Museum.
historical advisors, reviewing the texts of the signage and drafting copy for a planned series
of brochures. Additional markers will be installed later this year, including sites in Scot-land,
Hoke, Johnston, Wake, and Durham Counties along the trail of the “Carolinas
Campaign.”
North Carolina Projects Receive National Honors
Three projects involving North Carolinians were honored at the annual meeting of the
American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) at St. Louis on September 30.
An Award of Merit was presented to Catherine Bishir and Michael Southern, co-authors
of an acclaimed three-volume guidebook series on historical architecture in the state. Cer-tificates
of Commendation were awarded to the Office of Archives and History and the
University of North Carolina Press for the revised edition and website of The Way We
Lived in North Carolina. The Historic Beaufort Association was commended for the resto-ration
of the John C. Manson House. Recipients of the awards will also be recognized at
the joint annual meeting of the Federation of North Carolina Historical Societies and the
North Carolina Literary and Historical Association in Raleigh on November 19.
State Students Bring Home Awards from National History Day Finals
Forty-four North Carolina students represented the state at the National History Day
competition in College Park, Maryland, on June 13-17. History Day is a yearlong academic
program that encourages the teaching and learning of history, and helps students improve
their research, writing, analytical, and presentation skills. More than 700,000 students partici-pated
in the program nationwide, of whom only
about 2,000 qualified for the final competition.
Several North Carolina students achieved special
recognition at the event.
Aaron Sausedo, an eighth grader at A. C.
Reynolds Middle School in Asheville, received
the bronze medal for his junior individual docu-mentary
titled, “Monkeying Around: The Story
of America’s First Space Explorers.” Mary Leach
of Charles Owen High School in Black Mountain
received a scholarship to the University of Mary-land.
She competed in the group exhibit category,
and her project was titled, “French Salons: The
Encounter of New Ideas.” Kimberly Gasaway and
Meredith Gasaway of Cane Creek Middle School
in Asheville shared a special prize for an outstand-ing
exhibit on the history of the federal govern-ment.
Their project examined the history of the
Apollo space missions. It also finished among the
top fourteen projects in the country in its
category, as did the following:
Junior group performance titled, “Harriet Tubman: the Moses of Her People,” by Grace
Pulsifer and Erin Bailey of A. C. Reynolds Middle School in Asheville, who received the
Outstanding State award in the junior division.
Senior group documentary titled, “Bascom Lamar Lunsford: Sharing Mountain Culture,” by
Laura Sabato and Rebecca Webb of Charles Owen High School in Black Mountain.
Senior individual documentary titled, “Kagaya Hime: Reflections on Japanese History,” by
Michiko Theurer of South Central High School in Greenville.
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 1 5
Aaron Sausedo of A. C. Reynolds Middle
School, winner of the bronze medal in the
junior individual documentary category at
the National History Day competition,
with his teacher, Diane Fox.
Senior individual exhibit titled, “What a Miracle: Open Heart Surgery,” by Parteek Singla of
J. H. Rose High School in Greenville, who received the Outstanding State award in the
senior division.
Other North Carolina schools sending students to the national competition were A. C.
Reynolds High School in Asheville, David Butler High School in Charlotte, Chase Middle
School in Forest City, St. Peters Catholic School in Greenville, Cornus Christian Home
School in Reidsville, and Four Oaks Home School in Asheville. National History Day is spon-sored
in North Carolina by the Division of Historical Resources of the Office of Archives and
History,with substantial assistance fromthe Federation ofNorth CarolinaHistorical Societies.
News from Historical Resources
Archives and Records Section
Through the auspices of the State Historical Records Advisory Board (SHRAB), the
section is making substantive progress in developing a statewide archival training program
titled, “Archival Education for the 21st Century.” On February 1, the SHRAB received a
National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) grant of $50,621 in
federal funds, matched by an additional $60,753 in in-kind contributions from the
Archives and Records Section for the training initiative. The SHRAB will provide an
ongoing series of practical workshops, addressing the needs for training in basic archival
principles and practices and intermediate-level education in specific areas of archives and
records work. The project’s main goal is to reach and train archival/special collections
personnel at smaller repositories throughout the state. It is based on the results of the
SHRAB’s statewide conference on records, “Charting Our Future,” in November 2001.
Recommendations and evaluations received from the conference were analyzed and
reviewed by the board, and formed the basis for this archival initiative.
The North Carolina SHRAB is working closely with the American Association for
State and Local History (AASLH), and archival/historical societies in New York, Ohio,
and Michigan, to devise the workshop curriculum. Matthew Turi, hired in June as project
archivist for the two-year program, has been developing curriculum for the basic work-shops,
with the assistance of the Project Advisory Board. A preliminary presentation of the
two-day archives “boot camp” workshop will be held October 14-15, in the Archives and
History/State Library Building. The curriculum will be evaluated by participants and
refined in time for the first official SHRAB workshop, scheduled for November 18-19 at
the Lincoln County Cultural Center in Lincolnton. Additional workshops will be sched-uled
this fall. After the two-year SHRAB project is complete, the Society of North
1 1 6 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Carolina Archivists (SNCA) and the State Library’s NC ECHO program have agreed to
take over and continue the archival training.
The section’s Government Records Branch successfully completed its participation in
an electronic records management pilot project being coordinated by the state’s Informa-tion
Technology Services (ITS). Section staff, working with ITS and other state and local
government agencies, tested various records management functions, including the man-agement
of electronic mail, by utilizing software produced by Documentum, a leading
enterprise content management provider. The pilot project was concluded at the end of
August. In cooperation with ITS, the section is evaluating the results to determine poten-tial
uses of Documentum in scheduling public records and helping provide enhanced
intellectual control of State Records Center holdings.
Through the successful application of Information Technology Branch supervisor
Druscie Simpson, the section has been selected to participate in the Electronic Records
Research Fellowship program funded by the NHPRC. The $15,000 fellowship will be
used to research and test methods to create a facility that will allow the preservation of
e-mail, independent of the software used to create it. To develop a solution with the
widest possible application, the State Archives will test the implementation of a server-based
facility using the IMAP protocol to collect the e-mail messages to be converted. In
order to create a solution that will have the most utilitarian benefits, the Archives will
involve the open source software community whenever feasible. It is anticipated that any
deliverables produced during the course of the grant will be returned to and accepted by
this same open source community. The core components that will perform the conversion
of e-mail to XML should provide at the very least a starting point for creating a standard
methodology to encode e-mail as XML. Results of this research will be made available to
the archival community through the Society of American Archivists and National Associa-tion
of Government Archives and Records Administrators at the annual meetings of the
two organizations.
In the Collections Management Branch, preservation toning of security microfilm
recently resumed after a long hiatus imposed by ventilation problems with the toning
processor. With the mechanical problems resolved, the imaging unit supervisor conducted
final testing on security film produced on acetate base that may be too unstable for long-term
preservation. Large scale toning of existing collections, as well as preservation toning
of newly created film, is now under way. This is an important step in assuring the preser-vation
of security microfilm of records in Archives custody.
In September, the Outer Banks History Center (OBHC) opened a new exhibit, Ribbons
of Sand: Batik Art of Barrier Islands by Mary Edna Fraser. The exhibit debuted with a presen-tation
on September 10 in the Roanoke Island Festival Park Film Theatre. A reception
and evening viewing of the exhibit followed in the adjacent History Center Gallery. Mary
Edna Fraser has explored and photographed expansive shoreline vistas for nearly a quarter
of a century. She often works from the open cockpit of her grandfather’s vintage 1946
Ercoupe airplane. Using her aerial photographs, along with satellite images, maps, and
charts, Fraser creates batiks, the process and product of the age-old art of applying dyes to
silk. Fraser’s vibrant depictions focus primarily on barrier islands, the sandy, attenuated,
and dynamic buffers between ocean and mainland that, from a bird’s-eye view, present
some of nature’s most striking patterns. Her artwork has been shown in some of the most
prestigious galleries in the country, and art collectors around the globe have commissioned
her batiks, samples of which can be seen at www.maryedna.com.
Since 1993, Fraser has consulted with Orrin Pilkey, renowned marine geologist at
Duke University, to enhance the detail and accuracy of her batik renderings. The two
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 1 7
are equally inspired by the importance and fragility
of the barrier islands. Their ten-year collaboration
has recently culminated in a critically acclaimed
book, A Celebration of the World’s Barrier Islands. Fra-ser
and Pilkey showed slides from their years of
aerial photography and discussed their ongoing col-laboration.
They then entertained questions and had
books available for purchase and signing. Ribbons of
Sand will remain on display in the OBHC gallery
through December 31.
The Archives and Records Section lost two more
positions to budget cuts at the end of the fiscal year. The Collections Management Branch
was adversely impacted by the loss of a processing assistant IV assigned to the local records
program. The position became vacant after an internal promotion in the processing and
duplication lab. An opening for a records management analyst in the Government
Records Branch was lost in a similar fashion. On a more positive note, the section’s
expansion budget request to improve archival digitization and arrangement and description
work was partially funded by the legislature, due in no small measure to the active support
of Secretary Lisbeth Evans and Deputy Secretary Jeffrey Crow.
Recent Accessions by the North Carolina State Archives
During the months of June, July, and August 2004, the Archives and Records Section
made 204 accession entries. The Archives accessioned original records from Harnett
County. The Archives received security microfilm of records for Alamance, Alexander,
Alleghany, Anson, Ashe, Avery, Beaufort, Bertie, Brunswick, Buncombe, Cabarrus,
Caldwell, Camden, Carteret, Catawba, Cleveland, Cumberland, Dare, Davidson, Dur-ham,
Franklin, Gaston, Guilford, Halifax, Harnett, Haywood, Henderson, Hertford,
Iredell, Jackson, Jones, Martin, Mecklenburg, Montgomery, Moore, Nash, New Hanover,
Northampton, Onslow, Orange, Pamlico, Perquimans, Pitt, Rockingham, Rowan,
Stokes, Surry, Union, Vance, Wake, Washington, and Wayne Counties; and for the
municipalities of Clemmons, Lake Park, New Bern, and Sanford.
The section accessioned records from the following state agencies: Department of
Community Colleges, 1 reel and 182 fiche cards; Department of Cultural Resources, 17
Fibredex boxes and 6 folders; Department of Environment and Natural Resources, 4 reels;
Department of Justice, 15 reels; General Assembly, 4 reels; Governor’s Office, 3 reels;
North Carolina Real Estate Commission, 2 reels; Secretary of State, 39 reels; State Trea-surer,
440 fiche cards; and Supreme Court, 2 fiche boxes and 1 fiche envelope.
The Delia Hyatt Papers (5 cubic feet), the Claudia Thompson O’Brien Papers (84
letters and 5 photographs), and the Julia Wetherington Papers (52 items) were accessioned
as new private collections. Other records accessioned included 34 audio and 13 videotaped
interviews, 1 compact disc, and 1,079 other items, added to the Military Collection; 43
photographs, 207 negatives, and 6 videotapes added to the Non-textual Materials Collec-tion;
4 cubic feet of North Carolina Medical Society Alliance material added to the Orga-nization
Records; and the May 23, 1861, letter from President Jefferson Davis to
Governor John W. Ellis, added to the Vault Collection.
1 1 8 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
This representation of Kitty Hawk was created by Mary
Edna Fraser, using the ancient batik process.
Historical Publications Section
The North Carolina Historical Review is celebrating its eightieth anniversary. The first issue
of the Review, North Carolina’s widely respected journal of history, appeared in January 1924.
Published by the Office of Archives and History, the Review offers a number of regular fea-tures
that have made it a definitive source for the study and understanding of the state’s his-tory.
These include carefully researched, illustrated articles that explore North Carolina and
southern history from the colonial period to the present. Each issue also contains numerous
reviews of recent books about state, regional, and national history. Other annual features
include a bibliography of books on North Carolina subjects or written by North Carolinians,
a selected listing of theses and dissertations on North Carolina topics, and a yearly index in
the October issue. The editors of the North Carolina Historical Review are Anne Miller and
Donna Kelly.
The Review is published quarterly and costs $30.00 for an annual subscription. To sub-scribe,
send a check (payable to N.C. Department of Cultural Resources) to: Historical Pub-lications
Section (C), Office of Archives and History, 4622 Mail Service Center, Raleigh,
N.C. 27699-4622. For credit card orders call (919) 733- 7442, or use the section’s secure
online store at http://store.yahoo.com/nc-historical-publications/.
A new book from the Historical Publications Section examines North Carolina’s exten-sive
program to supply and fit its Confederate amputees with artificial arms and legs. Phan-tom
Pain: North Carolina’s Artificial-Limbs Program for Confederate Veterans (pictured below),
by Ansley Herring Wegner, surveys amputation’s place in Victorian medical science and
the problems disabled veterans faced as they returned to civilian life. In this pioneering
study, Wegner compares North Carolina’s artificial-limbs program with those in other for-mer
Confederate states. She concludes that North Carolina was among the most progres-sive
of the southern states in supporting its disabled and maimed Confederate veterans.
Wegner discusses the several types of artificial limbs patented by inventors during and after
the Civil War. She also examines the reactions of recipients to their new limbs. While
some adjusted with relative ease to the prostheses, others suffered from residual problems
associated with stumps that never healed properly. Many veterans reported phantom pain
from the amputated region.
Phantom Pain includes a useful index to records in the North Carolina State Archives
related to artificial-limb recipients and veterans who requested commutations because
either they had already procured a prosthesis at their own expense
or they were unable to use the artificial limb provided by the
state. The paperback volume is amply illustrated with pictures of
surgical instruments, artificial limbs, and veterans with their
prostheses.
Ansley Herring Wegner, a native of Wilson, is a research histo-rian
in the Office of Archives and History. Before moving to the
office’s Research Branch, she was an archivist in the North
Carolina State Archives. She received an A.B. degree in English
and psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, and an M.A. in public history from North Carolina State Uni-versity.
[See the “New Leaves” article by Mrs. Wegner in this issue.]
Phantom Pain (261 pages, paperbound, illustrated, index) costs $21.05, which includes
tax and shipping, and may be ordered from the address shown above.
The section has recently reprinted several popular titles that have been out of print. Tar
Heels: How North Carolinians Got Their Nickname, by Michael W. Taylor, explains the origins
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 1 9
of the state’s nickname and how and when it gained general acceptance. According to Tay-lor,
the unusual nickname, first used during the Civil War, is testimony to both the humble
but proud origins and the fiercely independent character of North Carolina’s people.
The text of the twenty-four-page paperback is enhanced by fourteen black-and-white
illustrations. A picture of an 1863 diary entry shows the earliest written use of the term
“Tar Heel.” Tar Heels: How North Carolinians Got Their Nickname (24 pages, illustrated,
paperbound) costs $11.42, which includes tax and shipping.
Volume 3 of the Colonial Records of North Carolina [Second Series] has also recently been
reprinted. First published in 1971, North Carolina Higher-Court Records, 1697-1701 sheds
light on many aspects of life in colonial North Carolina. The award-winning North
Carolina Colonial Records Project makes available in printed form the most significant
documents of North Carolina’s rich and varied colonial past. The individually indexed
volumes are invaluable sources of information for local historians, genealogists, students,
and scholars.
Edited by Mattie Erma Edwards Parker, volume 3 of the Colonial Records of North
Carolina contains records of the colony’s higher courts from January 1, 1697, through
December 31, 1701. With the exception of land grants and wills, surviving court records
are the only substantial body of official records for early North Carolina. Court records are
practically the only source on North Carolina’s early legal system, and they contain details
not found elsewhere about political conditions in the colony.
The reprinted volume 3 of the Colonial Records of North Carolina (620 pages, index,
clothbound) costs $58.50, which includes tax and shipping. Single copies of volumes 1, 2,
and 4 through 10 of the Colonial Records are also available; all ten volumes (a $367 value)
may be ordered for only $250, plus tax and shipping. For contents and prices of individual
volumes, call (919) 733-7442, e-mail trudy.rayfield@ncmail.net, or visit the section’s online
store at the address above.
For the first time in many years, volumes 3 through 6 of the best-selling North Carolina
Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster, are again available. In cooperation with book dealer and
publisher Tom Broadfoot of Wilmington, the section is reprinting a limited number of the
first thirteen volumes. Reprinted editions of volumes 1-6 may now be ordered, and pre-publication
orders for volumes 7-13 are being accepted. The reprinted volume 1 (Artil-lery),
volume 3 (First-Third Regiments, Infantry), and volume 5 (Eleventh-Fifteenth
Regiments, Infantry) cost $63.85 each. Volume 2 (Cavalry) of the reprint series costs
$74.95. Volume 4 (Fourth-Eighth Regiments, Infantry) and volume 6 (Sixteenth–
Eighteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-first Regiments, Infantry) cost $69.21 apiece. Prices
include tax and shipping.
1 2 0 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
News from State Historic Sites and Properties
The Division of State Historic Sites and Properties has completed a partial reorganiza-tion.
An expanded Museum and Visitor Services Section, formerly a branch, has been cre-ated
in the division office, and the State Capitol has been placed within the section. Tryon
Palace Historic Sites & Gardens is again an independent section, and the former Capitol
Section, which consisted of Tryon Palace and the State Capitol, has been dissolved. The
Capital Area Visitor Center, located on Blount Street for many years, has been moved to
the North Carolina Museum of History and its staff reassigned to the Division of State
History Museums.
The remnants of Hurricane Charley passed across or near several state historic sites in
mid-August, but damage was minimal compared to other storms of recent years. As usual,
southeastern sites fared the worst, with both Brunswick Town and Fort Fisher losing
power and a number of trees. Limbs and debris were on the ground at both sites, as well as
at Tryon Palace, Bath, and Edenton. The USS North Carolina in Wilmington, not far from
Brunswick Town and Fort Fisher, sustained no damage.
Museum and Visitor Services Section
Recent paranormal studies in the State Capitol have yielded dramatic and startling
results. Longtime Capitol staff members have experienced a number of encounters with
the seemingly inexplicable over the years. Many of their stories have focused on the
Capitol’s third floor, in particular the State Library Room.
In June the Ghost Research Foundation of Pennsylvania, led by
Patty Wilson and Scott Crownover, joined Carolina Ghost Hunt-ers,
represented by Anne Poole of Durham, for an overnight inves-tigation
in the Capitol. Both groups are affiliated with Durham’s
Rhine Research Institute, whose representatives were also present
that night. Several Capitol staff members and invited guests wit-nessed
the investigations. Among the highlights of the evening
were random, audible activations of motion detectors in locked
rooms and in areas where no one was present. Numerous “orbs” of
energy (according to researchers, “residual life energies [spirits] of
individuals”—the most common form that ghosts assume) were
revealed in digital, infrared photographs. Some of the better images
were taken in the old House Chamber, and were also captured by one of the chamber’s
security cameras. In the early hours of June 24, division staff and invited guests felt a rush
of air in the third floor corridor outside of the library room, and smelled the distinct,
unmistakable aroma of cigar smoke wafting through the passage.
The History Channel’s Guts and Bolts series selected the Capitol for an episode that will
detail the technology and methodology of paranormal investigations. Television staff used
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 2 1
Who Ya Gonna Call?—
This spectral image was
captured by a security
camera in the old
House Chamber of
the State Capitol.
the Capitol for two more overnight investigations on August 20-22. The History Channel
invited LEMUR (League of Energy Materialization and Unexplained phenomena
Research) Paranormal of Asheville to lead the weekend investigation, assisted by Anne
Poole. LEMUR has investigated the Grove Park Inn’s “Pink Lady” and successfully
videotaped the legendary Brown Mountain Lights.
As the production company was setting up in the library, Poole noticed on one of the
Capitol’s security monitors a shadowy form standing in the library gallery, a locked,
off-limits area. The form stood between the camera and a light fixture in the gallery for a
minute or two and then rapidly dissolved. Other guests took digital photographs in the
library. When these were subsequently examined, one was found to reveal a large greenish
orb near the central eastern window. Some observers perceived the partial form of a
bearded man with a receding hairline, in mid-nineteenth-century clothing, looking
directly at the camera. The figure appeared to hold a lit cigar in his mouth, a detail that
seemed to correlate with the cigar smoke sensed by attendees in June. The History Chan-nel’s
Guts and Bolts show will air in October.
North Carolina Transportation Museum
Museum staff members started from scratch more than a year ago when they decided to
do an exhibit on the role of women in transportation. “At first, we really didn’t know
what we were getting into,”
admits Walter Turner, museum
historian and a chief coordinator
for Untying the Apron Strings:
North Carolina Women in Transpor-tation,
a temporary exhibit that
opened on August 27. Learning
about the topic proved difficult,
because the available recorded
history is limited.
Untying the Apron Strings
focuses on progress in transporta-tion
by women in the twentieth
century, when new opportunities
began to emerge, primarily in the
field of aviation. Leading the way
during World War II were Mary
Webb Nicholson and the
Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), whose stories are highlighted in the exhibit.
Nicholson, a Greensboro native, was the state’s first licensed female pilot. She ferried
planes in Britain during the war. More than one thousand young women, including a few
from North Carolina, were WASPs in a largely forgotten program that lasted only two
years. The pilots ferried warplanes, towed targets for training anti-aircraft gunners, and
flew many different kinds of planes. After the war, many had trouble finding jobs in avia-tion.
Opportunities finally re-emerged in the 1970s, when the Air Force and commercial
airlines began accepting female pilots. The exhibit shows these advancements by focusing
on women pilots and flight attendants employed by North Carolina’s Piedmont Airlines.
Other North Carolina women lobbied for improved roads and safer transportation, or
started their own transportation businesses. The exhibit tells the stories of some of these
women, including Elizabeth Dole who, as secretary of the U.S. Department of
1 2 2 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Stephanie Hamilton (right), a former pilot for Piedmont
Airlines, points to a Piedmont uniform in the Women in
Transportation exhibit at the North Carolina Transportation
Museum.
Transportation, was instrumental in expanding the use of seat belts and air bags; Harriet
Morehead Berry, who labored for state highway improvements; and Pat Long, who with
her husband Duane founded a Raleigh health-care transport company, Longistics.
Untying the Apron Strings is sponsored by Bonnie McElveen-Hunter and Pace Commu-nications,
North Carolina’s Touchstone Energy cooperatives, the Spencer High School
Class of 1943, and the Spencer Woman’s Club. A $10,000 grant from Pace and McElveen-
Hunter provided an orientation video and publicity for the new show. The exhibit,
featuring rare photos, aviation uniforms, and other artifacts, will be on display through
December.
The North Carolina Transportation Museum Foundation has secured a $10,000 grant
from the Hillsdale Fund for repair of the turntable in the restored Julian Roundhouse,
supplying the balance of the funds necessary to complete the project. Another $25,000
from the Robertson Foundation will be used for track repair and renovation. The
Watauga Valley Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society has donated $6,000
for restoration of the Tweetsie rail car No. 15.
Steam locomotive No. 604 is a step closer to returning to the rails at the museum. Nor-folk-
Southern has pledged $100,000 over two years toward the overhaul of the engine’s
boiler. The locomotive, restored to operating condition in 1987 by retired Southern Rail-way
employees, was the first engine to pull the on-site train. Repairs to its boiler, which
required rebuilding after 1,472 days of service, will cost more than $300,000. If sufficient
funds were available, the work could be done in a year, but waiting for the requisite fund-ing
will delay the project. The museum’s other working steam locomotive, the 1925 Shay,
will be due for rebuilding about 2012.
Repairs have also begun to the Master Mechanic’s Office. Snipes Construction will
handle replacement of a beam in the basement, repair and cleaning of storm drains on the
east side of the building, and construction of a retaining wall and catch basins for water
runoff on the west side of the structure. The project should take about thirty days and will
require the temporary closing of the road beside the office. The repairs should not affect
the train schedule.
Northeastern Historic Sites Section
“Hello, I’m Joseph Hewes,” said the young man at the Historic Edenton reception desk
in June. Fortunately Joe Hewes had called ahead for tour information, and staff members
were expecting the first cousin six times removed of Joseph Hewes (1730-1779), one of
North Carolina’s three signers of the Declaration of Independence. Joe Hewes had come
from New Jersey with his family to the town where his ancestor had been a successful
merchant. In addition to touring the historic district and museums, the family attended
worship services at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (1736), where Joseph Hewes had served as
a member of the vestry. The family also toured the privately owned Joseph Hewes House
(1765). Hewes the younger presented a copy of his family genealogy to Historic Edenton.
The work had been begun in 1935 by his great-grandfather, who researched family history
back to a 1674 land grant in New Jersey. Joe Hewes has added two new generations to the
family record. He also brought with him a large chart that he has compiled containing 285
names of ancestors.
August 13 was a milestone day for Historic Edenton, as the staff welcomed the
700,000th guest to the visitor center. Beth Knittle, her husband Jim, and their children
Andrew and Lindsay were on their way home after a vacation on the Outer Banks when
they stopped at Edenton. The Knittles were thrilled to receive a canvas tote bag full of
Edenton materials. The gifts were donated by the historic site, the James Iredell
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 2 3
Association, the North Carolina Northeast
Partnership, the Edenton-Chowan Chamber of
Commerce, and the Edenton Woman’s Club.
In 1968 the visitor center opened at the water-front
1782 Barker House and welcomed 2,847
visitors. The center relocated in 1992 to the
Ziegler House on North Broad Street, where
annual visitation now averages about 28,000. In
2003 the Historic Edenton staff greeted visitors
from forty-nine states and twenty foreign
countries.
The Wilson Igbo-style wedding held at
Somerset Place last year was featured on a
national television special, hosted by Diane
Sawyer, in June. The wedding marked the first known occasion of the marriage of a
descendant of a former Somerset enslaved person at the plantation. The show was highly
complimentary of the historic site, its staff, and the wedding, which incorporated a num-ber
of traditional Igbo tribal practices into the ceremony and related activities. The Igbo
are a predominant group in southern Nigeria.
Christine Mayo, a recent graduate of East Carolina University, has been awarded the
Alderson Internship Grant by the American Association for State and Local History. She
will research the history of Blackbeard for one of the two exhibits that she will design for
Historic Bath.
Piedmont Historic Sites Section
To commemorate the centennial of
Duke Power Company, forty company
executives and retirees spent a steamy
afternoon in June performing community
service at Duke Homestead. After a catered
lunch, the group received a brief orienta-tion
from the site manager and a safety
overview from the company’s community
affairs manager. The volunteers divided
into six work teams and immediately
jumped into a variety of maintenance pro-jects,
such as spreading seventy-five bales
of pine straw, raking four cubic yards of
gravel on walkways, pruning trees and
shrubs, weeding flower beds, and painting
picnic tables. Even Duke Power Company
president Ruth Shaw assisted with the
exterior cleaning of the 1852 Duke
Homestead.
Roanoke Island Festival Park
A fascinating exhibit of woven textiles from the Middle East opened in the Art Gallery
on September 2. Art collector and dealer Stan Akins, a retired army colonel, has been travel-ing
and buying rugs throughout the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Russia for more than
twenty-five years. While posted in Turkey, he developed an interest in classical carpets and
1 2 4 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
The Knittle family, one of whom was the
700,000th guest of the visitor center at
Historic Edenton.
Duke Power Company vice presidents Sandra P.
Meyer and E. O. Ferrell III power-wash the
exterior of the Duke Homestead as part of the
utility company’s centennial observance.
nomadic weavings, and began dealing in rugs while still in the service. Colonel Akins fre-quently
returns to the area to replenish his stock, and buys directly from the weavers, usually
in their homes over a cup of tea. He maintains a warehouse in Izmir, Turkey.
The collection of kilims and other woven textiles on display were made and purchased
in Turkey, Afghanistan, Russia, Iran, and the Balkans. Two full-scale Bedouin tents,
depicting the traditional nomadic life, are included in the exhibit. An opening reception
was held on September 12. Colonel Akins shared his extensive knowledge of the region and
its rug art in lectures on September 15 and 25. The collection will be on display through
October 27.
Southeastern Historic Sites Section
Less than a year from now, the 140th anniversary of the end of the Civil War will be
marked. To commemorate the occasion, various programs are planned at state historic sites
throughout North Carolina. In November, Fort Fisher will claim the distinction of host-ing
the initial event in the series with the unveiling of a grand exhibit, the famous
Armstrong cannon that defended the fort prior to its surrender in January 1865.
The giant Armstrong, which has been located at the United States Military Academy at
West Point as a trophy of war since late 1865, is the only known surviving heavy seacoast
gun from Fort Fisher. Arranging for this loan, which is still being finalized, has tapped the
resources of Fort Fisher, the Department of Cultural Resources, and representatives from
several historical and preservation organizations.
The 16,000-pound Armstrong barrel is scheduled to be loaned to the site in early
November and will become the focus for the anniversary and observance of the battles at
Fort Fisher. William G. Armstrong’s British
company manufactured the powerful weapon,
which was finished with fine mahogany and
brass. The gun was designed to fire a projectile
weighing about 150 pounds but was seldom
used at Fort Fisher for lack of ammunition.
In addition, a special exhibit is planned for
the visitor center, featuring an artillery uniform
worn by Confederate colonel Thomas J.
Purdie, who was stationed at the fort early in
the war. Purdie Battery, located along the sea
face and presumably named after Colonel
Purdie, was the site of the Armstrong battery.
The uniform, along with Purdie’s saber, valise,
and canteen, will be on loan from the Averasboro Battlefield Commission.
On January 15-16, 2005, Fort Fisher will host a living history program featuring special
tours and demonstrations interpreting the battle. Later that evening a fireworks display,
depicting the Union fleet’s signal of the capture of the fort, will conclude the program.
Funds are being raised for these anniversary programs through the Fort Fisher Restoration
Committee, a nonprofit support group.
Several other state historic sites, primarily in the Southeastern Section, will commemo-rate
the 140th anniversary of the end of the war. The programs will offer many special
opportunities for visitors, tourists, and reenactors. While most of these programs are still in
the planning stages, a preliminary list of events follows:
February 19, 2005 – Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson
140th anniversary program
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 2 5
This enormous Armstrong coastal gun will
return to Fort Fisher to commemorate the
140th anniversary of the fort’s surrender.
March 12, 2005 – CSS Neuse
“Scuttled: The Inglorious Fate of the CSS Neuse”
March 19-20, 2005 – Bentonville Battlefield
140th anniversary reenactment (see the new reenactment website at
www.bentonvillereenactment.com)
April 16-17, 2005 – State Capitol
140th anniversary program
April 23-24, 2005 – Bennett Place
140th anniversary of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s surrender
May 14, 2005 – Aycock Birthplace
“Occupation through a Child’s Eyes” (Union occupation of Goldsboro)
June 2005 – Vance Birthplace
Civil War living history program, date to be announced
September 2005 – Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson
Civil War “Battle of the Bands” program, date to be announced
October 2005 – Aycock Birthplace
African American education after the Civil War
November 19-20, 2005 – CSS Neuse
Civil War naval living history program
Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens
One of the palace’s prized eighteenth-century portraits will soon be taken out of storage
to be featured in a major national exhibit. The portrait by John Wollaston of an unknown
British officer has an inscription on the back of the canvas identifying the subject as William
Tryon, royal governor of North Carolina from 1765 to 1771. But the uniform worn by the
officer is not historically correct for the governor, so the painting has languished in storage
pending proper identification. Scott Stephenson, an independent research curator working
for the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, became interested in the
portrait as he assembled materials for the center’s upcoming exhibit, Clash of Empires: The
British, French and Indian War, 1754-1763. From a photograph, Stephenson determined that
the uniform was appropriate for a British officer in North America during the French and
Indian War. At his request, the portrait will be loaned to the history center for inclusion in
the display. The exhibit will open in the center’s new Smithsonian Gallery on May 1, 2005,
and be on display until the following April. It will then travel to the Canadian War Museum
in Ottawa before moving on to the Smithsonian International Gallery in Washington, D.C.
Western Historic Sites Section
The James K. Polk Memorial hosted a program about the presidential yacht USS
Sequoia on June 19. Timothy L. Besmer, executive vice-president of the Sequoia Presi-dential
Yacht Group, lectured on the history of the vessel and displayed artifacts relating
to the eight presidents, beginning with Herbert Hoover, who used the yacht as a meet-ing
place and retreat. The boat was the site of many significant twentieth-century
events, including the negotiations between Richard Nixon and Russian leaders that led
to the first arms control treaty between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. In 1977, Presi-dent
Jimmy Carter sold the vessel in an effort to cut costs. The Sequoia has since been
privately restored and is currently moored at Washington, D.C., where it may be
rented (for $10,000) for a four-hour cruise on the Potomac River. The program was
the second installment in the 2004 James K. Polk Lecture Series, which features talks
and programs on presidential history.
1 2 6 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
News from State History Museums
North Carolina Maritime Museum at Beaufort
A generous donation by a longtime patron of the museum will underwrite the con-struction
of a new rowing center at Beaufort. Samuel “Bennie” Thomas presented the
Friends of the Museum with a check for $25,000 in honor of his wife, an avid rower. The
Dr. Marcy Wertz Thomas Rowing Center will serve as the home of the Beaufort Oars
and a new sliding seat rowing program, and will include a floating dock, boathouse, and
shed to house the shells.
North Carolina Museum of History
The museum staff continues to develop innovative outreach programs utilizing the lat-est
technological advancements. This fall, the museum is offering three virtual field trips
for fourth- and fifth-grade students around the state and beyond. These two-way interac-tive
videoconferencing classes travel along the North Carolina Information Highway.
Educators at the museum in Raleigh can engage students hundreds of miles away with
discussion-provoking artifacts from the repository’s vast collection, then answer questions
about the objects. For some of the lessons, touch objects and reproduction artifacts, or
perhaps historical photographs or a short video, may be sent to the school in advance.
Beginning September 20, the three fifty-minute virtual field trips were presented at
9:00 and 10:00 A.M., Monday through Wednesday. The subject areas offered this fall are
Moccasins to Motorcars, an examination of the evolution of transportation in the state,
utilizing photographs and maps; History Mystery, in which students learn how historians
unravel the mysteries of the past through observation, analysis, and hypothesis; and North
Carolina’s American Indians, which explores the contemporary culture as well as the fasci-nating
past of the state’s original inhabitants. For more information, contact Claudia Noble
at (919) 807-7987, or by e-mail at claudia.noble@ncmail.net.
To commemorate the statewide two-year Celebration of North Carolina Craft, the
museum is showcasing a changing selection of handcrafted items from its immense collec-tion.
From July 13, 2004 to March 6, 2005, the Celebration of North Carolina Craft exhibit
features works by native African American artisans. Artifacts in the display range from util-itarian
quilts and baskets to elaborate woodcarvings. One of the oldest and most valuable
items in the exhibit is a mahogany sideboard crafted by Thomas Day, the renowned free
African American cabinetmaker from Milton. Other nineteenth-century pieces include a
quilt with an appliqué portion sewn by slaves at Mount Holly plantation in Pender
County, and another quilt stitched by Mary Barnes, a former slave in Wilson County.
African American craftsmanship of the twentieth century is represented by a set of colorful
woodcarvings by the late Arliss Watford Sr. of Ahoskie, a winner of the North Carolina
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 2 7
Folk Heritage Award, and brightly painted wooden dancing dolls created by George
SerVance Jr. of Thomasville.
The Celebration of North Carolina Craft during 2004 and 2005 is sponsored by the
North Carolina Craft Coalition, which is supported by the North Carolina Arts Council.
The next exhibit rotation at the Museum of History will feature the repository’s collection
of fiber and textiles.
With the Raleigh-based African American Cultural Complex, the museum served
as co-host for the 2004 Association of African American Museums Conference on
August 18-21. This year’s theme was “Generation Next: Preparing Professionals and
Visitors for African American Museums.” The opening reception, “Celebrating North
Carolina’s Cultural Treasures,” was held at the Museum of History and the neighboring
Museum of Natural Sciences, and featured Chuck Davis and the African American Dance
Ensemble. The Association of African American Museums is a nonprofit organization that
supports national and international museums and professionals. For more information
about the association, access its website at www.blackmuseums.org.
Staff Notes
In the Archives and Records Section, Caroline Walters has been hired as a records
management analyst II in the Government Records Branch. Christine Dumoulin was
employed as an archivist I at the Outer Banks History Center.
In the Division of State Historic Sites and Properties, Carol Henderson retired at the
end of July as administrator of the State Capitol. She was manager of the Visitor Center
for ten years before coming to the Capitol in 1998. Earlier in the month, Andrea Bogart
resigned as assistant administrator of the State Capitol to accept a position with the
National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C. Lea Walker, formerly an
administrative secretary with the State Archives, was named site manager of the Capitol.
Teresa Martindale, who worked for many years at Alamance Battleground, has separated
on long-term disability from her position as facilities maintenance coordinator at the
1 2 8 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
LEFT: This patchwork quilt, pieced together from dress scraps by Eliza Helen Rogers Arrington of
Cary in 1940, is one of several unique quilts included in the exhibit of African American crafts on
display at the North Carolina Museum of History. RIGHT: Moses, carved from cherry wood by
George SerVance Jr. of Thomasville in 1993, is also featured in the Celebration of North Carolina Craft
exhibit.
Charlotte Hawkins Brown Memorial. At Reed Gold Mine, Bob Remsburg, who was
assistant manager there some years ago, has been named site manager. Misty Ebel is the
new public information officer at the North Carolina Transportation Museum. In the
division office, Ryan Lewis is the new exhibits designer. Betsy Lawson has resigned as
office assistant III at the Thomas Wolfe Memorial.
In the Division of State History Museums, Candace Reasons retired as chief budget
officer after thirty-four years of service in the Department of Cultural Resources. She
began her career as a stenographer in the Local Records Section in November 1970 and
worked for many years in the departmental budget office before moving to the museum.
Kay Wyche retired from her position as editor in chief and head of the Communications
and Publicity Section. She spent the first eighteen of her twenty-eight years of state service
with the Historical Publications Section, where she started as a transcribing typist in Janu-ary
1977. She has been with the museum since 1995. Jeff Rhodes has assumed the position
of museum specialist (audiovisual technician). Elizabeth F. Buford, director of the division,
received the 2004 Women in Business Award from the Triangle Business Journal.
Obituary
Rita Adams Cashion, longtime employee of the Office of Archives and History and the
wife of Dr. Jerry C. Cashion, chairman of the North Carolina Historical Commission, died
on July 23 after a long battle with cancer. She was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, and raised
in Henderson. Prior to joining the office (then division) in 1985, she worked for FCX (now
Southern States) in Raleigh. In her fifteen years with the division, Mrs. Cashion worked in
the Research Branch, the State Archives, and the director’s office. As administrative secretary
to the director, she assisted the work of the Federation of North Carolina Historical Societies
and the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association. She will be remembered for her
quiet efficiency, her subtle good humor, the delight she took in her two young grandchil-dren,
and the courageous determination with which she faced her illness.
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 2 9
Upcoming Events
October 8-9 Roanoke Island Festival Park. Friends of Elizabeth II Antiques Fair.
Dealers offer antiques and collectibles, with proceeds benefiting the Friends
of Elizabeth II. $5 for two-day pass, free for children under twelve and
Friends of Elizabeth II. 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
October 9 North Carolina Museum of History. Preserving Your Family Papers.
Sarah E. Koonts, preservation officer at the North Carolina State Archives,
covers the basics of preserving paper and books in this workshop, co-sponsored
by the Archives. 10:00 to 11:30 A.M. Register by October 5
at (919) 807-7968.
October 10 North CarolinaMuseum of History. Music of the Carolinas: Rayna Gellert
and Kenny Jackson. Two of the finest fiddle players in the state perform
old-time music in this program co-sponsored by PineCone. 3:00 to 4:00 P.M.
Roanoke Island Festival Park. Carolista Music Festival. Second annual
music festival featuring local and national female performers, and celebrating
the achievements of the diverse community of artists, culinary divas, and
businesswomen of the Outer Banks. Performers include Albita, Beverly
Watkins, and The Camaros. Tickets are $20 at the gate; children under
twelve admitted free. Proceeds will benefit the Outer Banks Hotline. Gates
open at 1:00 P.M.
1 3 0 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Upcoming Events
October 11-15 Alamance Battleground. Colonial Living Week. A weeklong living
history program for schoolchildren and the general public. Reservations
required for groups. 9:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. daily.
October 13 North Carolina Museum of History. History à la Carte: A Voice of
Their Own: Raleigh and the Woman’s Suffrage Movement. Ken
Peters, coordinator of education and outreach at the Raleigh City Museum,
discusses the contributions of local individuals and organizations to both
sides of the issue in the campaign for female suffrage. 12:10 to 1:00 P.M.
October 15 North Carolina Maritime Museum, Beaufort. Faces from the Flood. On
the fiftieth anniversary of Hurricane Hazel, Jay Barnes, director of the
North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, presents a slide lecture
comparing Hazel to Hurricane Floyd and other recent storms. Barnes
collaborated with Richard Moore, state treasurer of North Carolina, to
compile Faces from the Flood: Hurricane Floyd Remembered, signed copies of
which will be available for purchase. 2:00 P.M.
October 16 Horne Creek Living Historical Farm. Cornshucking Frolic. Annual
festival celebrates the autumnal harvesting, shucking, shelling, and grinding
of corn. Traditional rural activities include cider making, quilting,
woodworking, craft demonstrations, and wagon rides. A $3 donation is
requested; nominal fee for food and drink. 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial. Charlie the Alligator’s
Family Fun Day. Kids of all ages learn about a sailor’s daily life by
becoming one for a morning. The opportunity to climb into a berth, man
a gun, or holystone the deck is included in the regular price of admission.
9:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.
October 18 North Carolina Maritime Museum, Beaufort. European Lighthouses.
Annamaria “Lilla” Mariotti, a researcher and writer from Camogli, Italy,
presents a slide lecture about notable European lighthouses from ancient
times to the present. 2:00 P.M.
October 22-23,
29-30
Reed Gold Mine. The Bloody Reign of the Mad Miner. Enjoy
Halloween with haunted mine tours, hayrides, ghost stories around the
campfire, children’s games, and performances by Chaz the Magician. Fee.
7:00 P.M. to 1:00 A.M.
October 22-24 North Carolina Museum of History. Artists at Work: American
Needlepoint Guild. Members of the Raleigh chapter of the guild
demonstrate the stitching of beautiful designs. 1:00 to 3:00 P.M.
October 23 Duke Homestead. An Evening at the Homestead. The Duke
Homestead Junior Interpreters host an afternoon of food, music, nineteenth-century
children’s literature, and wagon rides. Guests are invited to bring a
picnic basket and blanket for dinner on the grounds. 2:00 to 6:00 P.M.
Historic Bath. Tar Heel Mysteries and Legends. Learn about fourteen
North Carolina ghost stories and legends in a half-hour video. A staff
member will also share the spooky legends of Bath. 7:00 P.M.
USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial. Battleship Alive. World War
II living history demonstrators bring the ship to life by re-creating daily
duties and drills. 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
October 24 North Carolina Maritime Museum, Beaufort. Maritime Watercolors.
Opening reception for exhibit of watercolors by North Carolina artists and
their students. 2:00 to 4:00 P.M. During the following week, visitors may
observe the exhibited artists teaching a water-color workshop at the
museum. Exhibit will run through January 2, 2005.
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 3 1
Upcoming Events
October 30 Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex. Days of Constant Sorrow.
Opening of exhibit, featuring photographs, artifacts, and a tenant farm
cabin, that examines life in southeastern North Carolina during the Great
Depression. Exhibit will run through October 30, 2005.
North Carolina Museum of History. Day of the Dead/Dia de los
Muertos. Learn about the traditional Mexican holiday that honors
deceased loved ones. The bilingual festival features a decorated altar,
samples of traditional foods, and the making of crafts. A morning workshop
for children ages eight to twelve will demonstrate how handmade sugar-skull
ornaments are made and used. Workshop, 9:00 to 11:00 A.M., festival,
12:00 to 4:00 P.M. $10 fee for workshop; register by October 22 at (919)
807-7969.
November 6 Historic Bath. North Carolina Crafts Fair. Get an early start on
Christmas in the Year of the Craft by shopping at this special fair featuring
traditional Tar Heel crafts. 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
North Carolina Maritime Museum, Beaufort. Boatshop Bash. Annual
fund-raising evening social hosted by the Friends of the Museum in the
Watercraft Center features great food, musical entertainment, and a silent
auction. Contact the museum at (252) 728-7317 for an invitation.
Polk Memorial. President Polk Birthday Celebration. Costumed
interpreters evoke late-eighteenth-century life at the site of James K. Polk’s
boyhood home. Activities include children’s games, crafts, and demonstrations
of cooking and musketry. 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
November 7 Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex. Sounds of the Great
Depression. Program features a variety of music from the era of the Great
Depression. 2:00 to 4:00 P.M.
Roanoke Island Festival Park. M. Charles – A Retrospective. Opening
reception for exhibit of the works of M. Charles, pseudonym of Donald
Leary, an artist who came to the Outer Banks in the fifties and captured the
essence of the northern coast before it was developed. 4:00 to 6:00 P.M.
The exhibit will run November 3-29.
November 10 North Carolina Museum of History. History à la Carte: Serving with
Honor. Command Sergeant Major (Ret.) Tadeusz Gaweda, who survived
a concentration camp and served for thirty-five years in the U.S. Army,
shares his inspiring story and recounts a recent visit with the American
troops in Iraq. 12:10 to 1:00 P.M.
November 11 State Capitol. Veterans Day Parade. The state’s veterans will be honored
with a parade, a wreath-laying ceremony, and patriotic music by the Enloe
High School Concert Band. 11:00 A.M.
November
13-14
Roanoke Island Festival Park. Elizabethan Tymes: A Country Faire.
Step back in time four hundred years for demonstrations of Renaissance
music, dance, and fencing, and programs on Elizabethan history, weaponry,
and falconry. Merlin’s Marketplace will offer handmade pottery, jewelry,
and costumes. 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
November 14 Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex. Live! At the Arsenal.
Re-enactors in the uniforms of Arsenal guards direct guided tours of the North
Carolina Arsenal, relating the history of the building and describing the daily
lives of soldiers there in the years before the Civil War. 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.
1 3 2 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Upcoming Events
November 19 North Carolina Museum of History. American Indian Heritage
Education Day for School Groups. In one-hour sessions, students
(K-12) can visit teaching stations staffed by members of the eight
recognized tribes of North Carolina to learn about Native American crafts,
music, dancing, foodways, games, and storytelling. Teachers will receive
supplemental materials for use in the classroom. $5 per student; register by
November 5 at (919) 808-7950.
November
19-21
North Carolina Museum of History. Artist at Work: Brenda Silva. A
member of the Haliwa-Saponi tribe creates dance regalia to be worn at
powwows. 1:00 to 3:00 P.M.
November 20 North Carolina Museum of History. Ninth Annual American Indian
Heritage Celebration. Members of the eight state-recognized tribes of
Native Americans come together to celebrate their heritage. Visitors can
observe artists create pottery, baskets, beadwork, and stone carvings; watch
traditional dancers in colorful regalia perform to the rhythms of drum
groups; play Native American games; and listen to stories and legends.
Funding provided by Target Corporation. 11:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
November
20-21
CSS Neuse/Governor Caswell Memorial. Civil War Navy Living
History Program. The role of the navy and Marine Corps in the Civil
War is the focus of the program, with demonstrations of artillery,
musketry, and life aboard a nineteenth-century ship. Saturday, 10:00 A.M.
to 4:00 P.M., Sunday, 12:00 to 4:00 P.M.
December 3, 10 Duke Homestead. Christmas by Candlelight. Evening tours of the
homestead, featuring period decorations, caroling, and hot apple cider,
highlight the celebration of an 1870 Christmas. 7:00 to 9:00 P.M.
December 4 Bentonville Battlefield. Christmas Open House. The kitchen will be
decked out with natural decorations of holly and magnolia branches,
cotton stalks, and cranberry strands, while costumed interpreters discuss
the ways the common Civil War soldier spent his furlough time with
family and friends. 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
Museum of the Albemarle. I’ll Be Home for Christmas. The final
Christmas program in the “old” museum building focuses on the 1940s
and examines the ways soldiers and sailors celebrated the holidays while
away from home. 12:00 to 3:00 P.M.
Polk Memorial. Candlelight Tours. Holiday program explores
Christmas celebrations from the late eighteenth century and features living
history vignettes, open hearth cooking, and the firing of muskets. Fee.
6:30 to 9:00 P.M.
December 4 Reed Gold Mine. Christmas Celebration. Open house offers guided
underground and stamp mill tours, music by hand bell and vocal choirs,
and craft demonstrations. 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
Roanoke Island Festival Park. The Cashore Marionettes. This
internationally acclaimed group redefines the art of puppetry. The
program, Simple Gifts, is a series of poignant scenes from everyday life set
to the music of Vivaldi, Strauss, Beethoven, and Copland. Performances in
the Film Theatre at 10:00 A.M., 2:00 P.M., and 7:30 P.M. Fee.
December 5 Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum. Christmas Open House. The
Canary Cottage is decorated for a 1940s Christmas as the museum and the
campus of Palmer Memorial Institute celebrate the season. Local choirs
will perform. 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 3 3
Upcoming Events
December 5 Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex. Holiday Jubilee. Christmas
program features a special tour of the 1897 Poe House in period decorations,
Civil War living history vignettes at Arsenal Park, a toy workshop, Christmas
carols, and a visit from Santa in costume from the 1860s. 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.
Roanoke Island Festival Park. The Art Collection of the Town of Nags
Head. Opening reception for exhibit of more than sixty works by local
artists, including Glenn Eure, Linda Crassons, Michael Halminski, Marcia
Cline, Ray Matthews, Petie Brigham, and Rick Tupper, collected during
the past six years by the Town of Nags Head. 4:00 to 6:00 P.M. Exhibit
will run from December 3 to December 30.
December 7 Bennett Place. Christmas Open House. Holiday program features Civil
War period music, cooking, and children’s activities. 1:00 to 4:00 P.M.
December 7-8 Horne Creek Living Historical Farm. Christmas by Lamplight. Enjoy
the food and music of a turn-of-the-twentieth century rural Christmas.
Admission $8 for adults, $5 for children six to twelve. Call (336) 325-2298
to make required reservations for a specific hour, 4:00 to 8:00 P.M.
December 8 North Carolina Museum of History. History à la Carte: Toys from
Old Salem. Johanna Brown, curator and director of collections at Old
Salem, presents a slide lecture about the Toy Museum’s collection of
antique toys. 12:10 to 1:00 P.M.
December 9 State Capitol. State Tree Lighting, Capitol Open House, and
Holiday Festival. Traditional ceremonies include musical performances
and the lighting of luminaries on Capitol Square (5:00 P.M.), the lighting of
the State Christmas Tree by Governor and Mrs. Easley (6:00 P.M.), and a
holiday festival embracing the Capitol grounds, Bicentennial Plaza, and the
state history and natural science museums, hosted by the Junior Woman’s
Club of Raleigh. 5:00 to 8:00 P.M.
December 10-11 Historic Edenton. Christmas Events. Two days of special seasonal activities
include caroling on the courthouse green (Friday, 6:00 P.M.), the Barker
House Holiday Repast (Friday and Saturday, 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.), self-guided
candlelight tours of historic homes (Friday and Saturday, 4:00 to 8:00 P.M.),
the Cupola House Wassail Bowl (Friday and Saturday, 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.),
and the renowned Iredell House Groaning Board (Friday and Saturday, 1:00
to 5:00 P.M.).
December 11 House in the Horseshoe. Christmas Open House. The historic house
will be decorated for the season, with music in the parlor and refreshments
on the lawn. 12:00 to 5:00 P.M.
December
11-12
State Capitol. Civil War Christmas Enactment. Re-enactors
demonstrate Civil War drills and show children how to dip candles and
make period Christmas ornaments. Saturday, 10:00 A. M. to 5:00 P.M.,
Sunday, 12:00 to 4:00 P.M.
December 12 Alamance Battleground. Christmas Open House. 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.
Historic Bath. Christmas Open House. Enjoy seasonal music, apple cider,
and fresh gingerbread, and tour the 1734 St. Thomas Episcopal Church, the
1751 Palmer-Marsh House, the 1790 Van Der Veer House, and the 1830
Bonner House, all decorated in period holiday fashion. 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.
North Carolina Museum of History. Music of the Carolinas: Triangle
Shape Note Singers. Learn about soul-stirring shape note music, a part
of North Carolina life since the 1800s, and sing along with the chorus.
Co-sponsored by PineCone. 3:00 to 4:00 P.M.
December
14-15
Horne Creek Living Historical Farm. Christmas Open House. Tour the
Hauser Farmhouse and enjoy light refreshments. 1:00 to 3:00 P.M.
Colleges and Universities
Duke University
Dr. Sarah (Sally) Deutsch has succeeded Dr. John Thompson as chair of the history
department.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Dr. W. Miles Fletcher has succeeded Dr. Jay Smith as associate chair of the Department
of History. On July 1, Dr. Smith was promoted to professor, and Dr. Jerma A. Jackson
and Dr. Lisa A. Lindsay to associate professor. Dr. Michael Tsin has joined the faculty as
an associate professor, as have Dr. Heather Williams and John W. Sweet as assistant profes-sors.
Dr. Donald G. Mathews has retired.
Recent publications by members of the faculty include: William L. Barney, The Ameri-can
Journey: A History of the United States, 4th ed., 2 vols. (Upper Saddle River, N.J.:
Prentice Hall, 2004); Christopher Browning, The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution
of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939-March 1942 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,
2004); John Chasteen, National Rhythms, African Roots: The Deep History of Latin American
Popular Dance (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2004); John Chasteen,
co-ed., Problems in Modern Latin American History (Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources,
2004), and Beyond Imagined Communities: Reading and Writing the Nation in Nineteenth-
Century Latin America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004); Michael H.
Hunt, The World Transformed: 1945 to the Present (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s Press,
2004), and The World Transformed: A Documentary Reader (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s
Press, 2004); Jerma A. Jackson, Singing in My Soul: Black Gospel Music in a Secular Age
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004); Richard Talbert, The Romans
and Their History: From Village to Empire (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004); and
Richard Talbert, co-ed., Space in the Roman World: Its Perception and Presentation (Munster:
LIT Verlag, 2004).
State, County, and Local Groups
Cape Fear Museum of History and Science
On September 18, the museum introduced a new exhibit, simply titled 20th Century.
The interactive exhibit is designed to showcase the museum’s extensive collection of
regional objects from the 1900s and to highlight significant stories of the past century. The
rapid and dramatic changes to the Cape Fear region engendered by such momentous
events as World War II, the exodus of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, Hurricane Hazel,
the opening of Interstate 40, and the technological revolution are explored.
Former director Janet K. Seapker, who worked for the Office of Archives and History
from 1971 to 1978, received the Alderson Award from the North Carolina Museums
Council in honor of her lifetime contributions to the museums profession.
Forest History Society
The society has selected the article, “Live Dunes and Ghost Forests: Stability and
Change in the History of North Carolina’s Maritime Forests,” by Jim Senter, as the win-ner
of its 2003 Theodore C. Blegen Award, honoring the best article on forest and conser-vation
history published during the year. The article appeared in the July 2003 issue of the
North Carolina Historical Review and was nominated for the award by Anne Miller, editor of
the Review.
1 3 4 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Greensboro Historical Museum
A new exhibit exploring the world of golf in general, and the Greater Greensboro
Open in particular, opened at the museum on October 2. Golf the Greatest Game features
memorabilia collected from the local community by the Jaycees, founders of the Greens-boro
tournament. Programs, posters, the first “Green Coat” awarded to the victor in
1956, video clips and a ticket from the 1938 tournament won by Sam Snead, and fifty
years of photographs by Carol W. Martin are among the items on display. The exhibit also
pays homage to the “Greensboro Six,” a group of African Americans arrested for trying to
integrate the Gillespie Park golf course in 1955. Golf the Greatest Game will run through
February 27, 2005.
Lower Cape Fear Historical Society
Last summer, the society introduced a new concept to tours of historical structures,
pairing each building with the cuisine of a local restaurant and focusing on particular
themes. The Flavor of the Past tour was so well received that the society decided to
reprise the event. Adopting as a general theme, “Wilmington Occasions,” the program
was held on August 21, just days after Hurricane Charley blew through the Cape Fear
region. The five participating historic houses and museums, their restaurant partners,
and the particular occasion developed by each included: the Bellamy Mansion Museum
and The Pilot House (1861 housewarming); the Cape Fear Museum of History and Sci-ence
and Caffe Phoenix (1900 family picnic); the DeRosset House-Historic Wilmington
Foundation and the City Club (antebellum wedding); the Latimer House and Circa
1922 (Victorian mourning); and the Wilmington Railroad Museum and the Water
Street Restaurant, the only new participant in the tour (going off to war, 1942). Each
site offered a unique educational program to accompany thematically inspired food
samplings. Tour participants could move from place to place at their own pace, availing
themselves of the free shuttle service provided by the Wilmington Trolley Company.
Three houses of worship in historic Wilmington—the First Presbyterian Church, the
Temple of Israel, and St. Stephen AME Church—offered tours and hourly programs of
faith-based period music.
The Lower Cape Fear Historical Society will once again sponsor the Old Wilmington
by Candlelight Tour on December 4-5. A custom for thirty-one years, the tour of the
historic district is the traditional send-off to the Christmas season in Wilmington. A num-ber
of historic homes, each decorated according to its owner’s particular taste and the
individual history of the house, will be open to tour participants. A number of downtown
churches will throw open their doors as well. This year refreshments will be available for
purchase at the Community Arts Center. Tour hours are Saturday, 4:00 to 8:00 P.M., and
Sunday, 2:00 to 6:00 P.M. Tickets may be purchased for $20 from November 1 through
November 18, and for $25 thereafter. For group discounts or for further information, call
the society at (910) 762-0492.
New Bern Historical Society
The society will co-sponsor the fourteenth annual New Bern at Night Ghost Walk on
three consecutive nights, October 21-23. This year’s spectral event focuses on spirits from
the Revolutionary War and will feature the former manager of the Masonic Theatre, as
well as the usual crowd of restless souls in Cedar Grove Cemetery. Last year’s walks drew
nearly four thousand visitors. Advance tickets may be obtained for $13 (a $3 discount off
the gate price) from the society at (252) 638-8558. Other sponsors of the traditional
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 3 5
Halloween week event are the Framing Fox Art Gallery and the Twenty-sixth North
Carolina Infantry Reenactors.
The Phoenix Society for African American Research, Inc.
The society will sponsor its annual Tarboro African American Historical Sites tour for
fourth graders in the Edgecombe County public school system on October 14-15. The
tour showcases eleven sites that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and
will provide living history demonstrations on the craftsmanship of a farrier, quilting,
tobacco looping, domestic basket weaving, sedge broom making, and soap making. A spe-cial
feature of the tour will be an exhibit in the Quigless Clinic of vintage dolls and doll
furniture from the Cozetta Barnes Gray Collection. Mrs. Gray has been collecting dolls for
the past fifty years; her collection includes ethnic and period dolls and doll furniture.
Railroad House Historical Association of Lee County
The association has undertaken the restoration of the Endor iron furnace, a massive
structure built about 1862 to smelt iron for the Confederacy. The furnace, which has been
idle since the 1870s, was constructed of locally quarried one-ton blocks of brownstone and
stands nearly forty feet tall. The property, listed on the National Register of Historic
Places, was recently acquired by the Triangle Land Conservancy and donated to the state.
The historical association plans to raise the necessary funds to stabilize and preserve the
furnace, conduct an archaeological survey of the area, and improve access to the site. For
further information, write to: Endor Iron Furnace Campaign, Railroad House Historical
Association, P.O. Box 1023, Sanford, NC 27331-1023.
“The Writing of Phantom Pain and the Search for a
Jewett’s Patent Leg”
By Ansley Herring Wegner
EDITOR’S NOTE: Ansley Herring Wegner is the author of Phantom Pain: North Carolina’s Artificial-
Limbs Program for Confederate Veterans, published in September 2004 by the Historical Publications
Section. She also wrote an article titled, “Phantom Pain: Civil War Amputation and North Carolina’s Maimed
Veterans,” which appeared in the July 1998 issue of the North Carolina Historical Review. She is the author
of History for All the People: 100 Years of Public History in North Carolina (Raleigh: Office of Archives
and History, 2003). Mrs. Wegner has been with the Office of Archives and History since December 1994.
I began my research into North Carolina’s artificial-limbs program in 1997 while work-ing
as a reference archivist in the North Carolina State Archives. Reference staff members
were expected always to have a project on which to work during slow times and on Mon-days
when the search room was closed to the public. I was particularly drawn to a set of
boxes on the shelves near the front of the stacks. They had temporary paper labels on
them that read “Artificial Limbs Collection,” and they appeared to be letters and forms to
the Artificial Limbs Department from county officials and maimed veterans. The range of
1 3 6 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
New Leaves
dates was from 1866 to about 1871. Having long been interested in the history of medi-cine,
and understanding the potential value of the papers to both historical researchers and
genealogists, I decided to try to get those papers arranged and described so that they could
be better utilized. While working on the arrangement, questions arose that led me to
other series of records containing similar items related to North Carolina’s maimed Con-federate
veterans. I decided to create a name index to all of the documents, so that a
researcher could look up a veteran’s name and find all the records pertaining to the man’s
inquiries to and dealings with the Artificial Limbs Department. Sometimes the records are
so complete that one can follow a man from inclusion on his county’s list of amputees,
through his forms for obtaining a limb, to the invoice for the limb, and finally to the entry
in the auditor’s accounts stating that payment was made.
As my work with the documents progressed, I grew more curious about the artificial-limbs
program. When I realized that there was not going to be an easy way of finding out
more—either through a secondary source or from a knowledgeable historian—I decided
to write an article on the program. Even after I was promoted to the Research Branch of
the Office of Archives and History, I was allowed to continue work on the project as time
allowed. What started out as an article, with the accompanying index of documents, has
recently been published by the Historical Publications Section of Archives and History as a
book—Phantom Pain: North Carolina’s Artificial-Limbs Program for Confederate Veterans.
The name of the book derives from that mysterious pain that seems to come from a
missing limb, an obstacle faced by almost all amputees. It was not only uncomfortable but
also disconcerting, particularly during the early stages of recovery. Phantom pain occurs
when raw nerve endings send signals to the brain that are misconstrued, and the brain
assigns the pain to a limb that no longer exists. A good example of how the brain can mis-interpret
signals is the headache that occasionally follows the eating of cold foods (the pro-verbial
“ice cream headache”). Nerves in the roof of the mouth are along the same pathway
as those in the forehead; the brain sometimes misreads signals from the roof of the mouth
and transmits the pain to the forehead. Similarly, pain in an amputee’s stump may be
ascribed to the amputated region by the brain, as the pathway of the nerves has been inter-rupted.
Regardless of the scientific explanation, this painful specter of the amputee’s miss-ing
limb often hinders rehabilitation. Psychological healing, strength, and confidence are
crucial factors to recovery, and with proper adjustment, phantom pain frequently decreases
over time. The use of an artificial limb is an important step in regaining confidence and
beginning the healing process.
The North Carolina General Assembly passed a resolution on January 23, 1866, asking
Gov. Jonathan Worth “to make a contract with some manufacturer of artificial limbs to
supply the need of the State at an early day.” By way of explanation, the resolution stated:
“it is considered an eminent work of charity and of justice to assist all with the common
funds of the State to procure necessary limbs, and thus to restore them, as far as practica-ble,
to the comfortable use of their persons, to the enjoyment of life and to the ability to
earn a subsistence.”1
An editorial that appeared in Raleigh’s Daily Standard the day on which this resolution
was introduced mentioned the Federal program for supplying limbs and encouraged sup-port
for a similar program in North Carolina to serve Confederate veterans. The writer
claimed that the legs would “make the man almost over again” and allow him to become
a “producer” rather than a “consumer.” The following day the Raleigh Sentinel included
an article declaring that the resolution was “a timely and eminently proper movement”
and that “the State owes them, at least, this small token of her appreciation . . . prompted
by humane and honorable motives.” Nowhere can any opposition to the resolution be
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 3 7
found. The Standard writer went so far as to state that “no act could be passed which
would be more acceptable to our people. They will cheerfully pay the small amount of
taxes necessary to effect this object.”2
In response to the mandate, Governor Worth advised the General Assembly on Febru-ary
12, 1866, that he would ask each county sheriff for information about the number of
limbs that would be required for his county, specifying the numbers of legs and arms.
Worth speculated that more amputated arms would be reported because soldiers’ legs were
protected by breastworks, and because leg amputations were more likely to cause fatal
complications. According to the numerous sheriffs’ lists in the State Archives, slightly more
arms than legs were reported as missing. From the researcher’s perspective, it is useful that
most sheriffs did not simply make lists of the number of limbs needed, but provided the
names of each amputee and which limb was missing.3
In a letter to the General Assembly in February 1866, Worth expressed support for a
contract with Jewett’s Patent Leg Company of Washington, D.C., because a native North
Carolinian was working in the establishment. Silas M. Stone of Franklin County had writ-ten
to Worth in January about John T. Ball, a “master Leg maker” who wanted to return
home. Ball had previously made harnesses and cabinets in New Bern. Stone, a veteran of
the Fifty-fifth Regiment North Carolina Troops, had lost a leg after being wounded at
Gettysburg. He had purchased an artificial leg from Jewett’s in 1865 for one hundred dol-lars.
Pleased with the leg and the work of Ball, Stone proposed a plan to bring the crafts-man
back to North Carolina to oversee the manufacture of artificial limbs.4
A. H. St. John of Jewett’s Patent Leg Company offered North Carolina two contract
options in March 1866. The first would have allowed the state to buy exclusive rights to the
leg by purchasing two patents for twelve thousand dollars. The patents, numbers 16,360 and
29,494, were issued to Benjamin W. Jewett of Gilford, New Hampshire, in 1857 and 1860,
respectively. In addition, Jewett’s would furnish for ten dollars a set the wooden blocks,
springs, and joints needed to manufacture the legs. The second option required that the state
provide Jewett’s with a building in North Carolina where limbs could be manufactured and
pay the company a five-thousand-dollar advance. Jewett’s would then sell legs to the state
for seventy-five dollars each. Governor Worth opted for the latter plan, keeping open for
one month the option to purchase the patents.
The contract signed in April 1866 reduced the
cost of each leg from seventy-five to seventy
dollars.5 There is no evidence that the state
ever purchased the patents.
The building provided to Jewett’s was in
Raleigh, but the exact location is unknown.
Governor Worth, however, described the site
in an April 1866 letter in which he asked if the
state may occupy a building “in the north part
of the city,” which was “used—perhaps
erected, for the manufacture of bayonets.”6
The Raleigh bayonet factory was conveniently
located near the shops and terminus of the
Raleigh and Gaston Railroad, near the junction
of North and McDowell Streets.
1 3 8 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
The Jewett Patent Leg once worn by
Robert Alexander Hanna, a Confederate
veteran from Anson County.
Whether in imitation of the Federal artificial- limbs program or in response to pleas from
maimed veterans, North Carolina devised a plan by which the amputees incurred no out-of-pocket
expenses while in Raleigh. In addition, the state issued railroad passes for the trip to and
from the capital. The fittings and adjustments usually took a couple of days, and a house
was provided for the amputees’ accommodations during this time. The governor advised
them to bring blankets for bedding and a basket of bread and dried meat for their meals.
The degree of satisfaction among recipients of North Carolina’s artificial limbs varied
widely. As human nature dictates, letters of complaint are more likely to be written than
ones expressing praise. So there are more letters from dissatisfied veterans, requesting new
limbs or, more commonly, petitioning for commutation money in exchange for the return
of a limb, than from those who were pleased. The general consensus among the discon-tented
was that their stump was not conducive to the use of an artificial limb. Amputees
complained of pain, difficulty of movement, and problems with the operation of their
apparatus. J. L. Cathey of Asheville, who had lost his right leg after being wounded at
Chickamauga, said that while he could walk on the leg in the shop in Raleigh, once he
got home to the hills of Buncombe County he could not walk on the uneven ground out-side.
He went on to say, “I have worn it one time and since that time I cannot get my leg
in it to try it anymore[.] my stump is to short for a Leg of the fashion mine is.” Similar
comments were made about artificial arms. J. M. McLean, who lost his right arm as a result
of a wound received at Gettysburg, wrote: “I can say that the arm is really of no service to
me, except to fill the vacancy. It is an incumbrance & hurts me to wear it. The money
would be of more service to me than the arm.”7
There were, of course, some expressions of appreciation, such as that from Pinkney M.
Amos, who had served in the Forty-fifth Regiment North Carolina Troops and lost his left
leg after being wounded during Jubal Early’s Maryland Campaign in the summer of 1864.
Amos wrote, “I have used my leg sucksessfuly & worne out the straps So that I must have
new.” B. F. Fonville wrote one of the few extant letters praising the artificial arm: “I am
well pleased with it[.] I can use it in riding or hold my paper in wrighting or holding any
thing that is not to heavy it is of a good deal of servis to a man that [is obliged] to use
one[.] I would not be without it for what I had to pay for it.” Fonville evidently pur-chased
an arm for fifty dollars before the state began to provide them. W. R. Ferguson
stated that he utilized his artificial leg with the help of a cane but complained that “it
makes so much fuss any one can [hear] it be fore I get in a hundred yards.” Ferguson was
apparently aware of the relative ease with which the leg could be repaired, for he asked
the Artificial Limbs Department for “2 ½ yards of Indian-rubber & 24 small brass screws”
and for directions as to how to oil
the joint.8 Fixing the leg was so easy
that even such requests for spare
parts and instructions were rare.
The Jewett’s Patent Leg was
known, and in part selected, for its
simple repairs.
The facility operated by Jewett’s
Patent Leg Company in Raleigh
remained open until June 18, 1867.
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 3 9
A close-up view of the foot of the
Jewett Patent Leg, showing its movable
parts.
At that time, it was reported that the shop no longer had enough work to continue on-site
manufacturing, but that Ball would remain in Raleigh to complete repairs and make new
limbs on demand.
According to records, the total cost of the artificial-limbs program to the state from
1866 to 1871 was $81,310.12. The first two years of the program were the most expen-sive,
with $22,656.29 spent in 1866 and $54,403.83 in 1867. By 1868, the total was only
$3,470. That fell to $150 in 1870, and by 1871, there were no reported expenses.9
Unquestionably, North Carolina’s artificial-limbs program faced difficulties, but with
public and governmental support, the state persevered. Even the Reconstruction govern-ment
continued the program established by its predecessors until all known amputees were
provided with either limbs or commutations. The strong public sentiment that the veter-ans
should be compensated carried the program to fruition despite the federal administra-tion’s
general disdain for Confederate veterans. The phantom pain of the amputees and of
a devastated society was meliorated in North Carolina by the artificial-limbs program.
While conducting my research, I learned some basic details about the Jewett’s Patent
Leg. However, I could not find an existing example. I contacted a succession of museums
over the years, hoping that they might have a Jewett Leg, only to be told that they did
not. I remained mindful that outside of museums, there would be artifacts such as artificial
legs in private hands. Every time I was told about a leg that had belonged to one of the
state’s Confederate veterans, however, it ended up being either a peg leg, another home-made
substitute, or in rare cases, a different model of the variety of commercially available
legs. Since the reported owners of the peg legs could be found in the records as having
received a Jewett Leg, it became clear to me that the manufactured legs likely wore out.
In April 2003, Jason Tomberlin, then the correspondence archivist with the North
Carolina State Archives, informed me that he had received a request from Duncan
Hanna of Red Springs for the Confederate pension application filed by his grandfather,
Robert Alexander Hanna. Tomberlin called my attention to Hanna’s note at the bottom
of the page, in which he casually men-tioned
that he had his grandfather’s
artificial leg, “if anybody cares.” I
promptly wrote a letter to Hanna
expressing my interest in the leg, and
included my e-mail address. After
years of disappointment, I remained
hopeful that there might be a Jewett
leg out there. A few weeks later I
received an e-mail with no text except
for the name “Duncan Hanna” and
the notation that it included several
attachments. As I clicked through the
pictures—he sent one of every imag-inable
angle—I actually got dizzy. The
photographs not only closely resem-bled
contemporary sketches of the
Jewett’s Patent Leg, but one photo-graph
of the bottom of the foot of
1 4 0 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Duncan Hanna of Red Springs, with his
grandfather’s rare artificial leg.
Hanna’s prosthesis showed several distinct features specified on those sketches.
With the intention of having more photographs made of the prosthesis, I arranged a
meeting between Alan Westmoreland, Archives and History photographer, and Duncan
Hanna. Ultimately, Hanna generously allowed the photographer to return with the leg to
Raleigh so that the photographs could be taken in the studio, and so that I could person-ally
examine it more closely. Len Hambleton, conservator at the North Carolina Museum
of History, was so captivated with the artifact that he agreed to clean it and perform some
repairs. The wood infill on the foot helped to secure the hinge and keep the toe area from
separating. Hambleton’s work helped make it possible for me to positively identify the leg
as a Jewett’s Patent Leg—because after all of the dust and debris had been extracted, I was
able to see the pulleys that are shown in detail in Jewett’s patent sketch.
Duncan Hanna’s grandfather, Robert Alexander Hanna, enlisted in Anson County on
July 1, 1861, in Company K, Twenty-sixth Regiment North Carolina Troops. Exactly
two years later, at Gettysburg, he was wounded in the head and the left leg. It was
reported on his pension application that he was wounded just above the ankle joint and
that the wound suppurated for about a month before the amputation was performed.10
Hanna was fortunate that the infection did not become systemic. In June 1866, he made
his first contact with the state in an effort to procure an artificial leg, submitting a form to
Gov. Jonathan Worth’s office. Jewett’s Patent Leg Company invoiced the State of North
Carolina, which paid for Hanna’s leg in January 1867.
According to Duncan Hanna, his grandfather tended to save the Jewett Leg—his
“Sunday-go-to-meeting-leg”—for special occasions, having made other prostheses,
including one that had a bull’s hoof for a foot, to help him perform his farm work. Likely
it was Hanna’s prudence that insured the survival of his Jewett Leg. It is certainly a delicately
made device. The bottom of the foot was damaged from wear, presenting clear evidence
as to how these legs wore out. Robert Alexander Hanna died in 1917 at about eighty-five
years of age—having had his Jewett Leg for fifty years. That he kept and maintained the
Jewett Leg throughout his own life is extraordinary, and that his descendants did the same
is no less remarkable. The state received inquiries related to or directed to the Artificial
Limbs Department from 1,550 maimed veterans. Hanna’s is the only Jewett Leg known to
exist in North Carolina. It is currently on display in the visitor center at Bentonville Bat-tlefield
State Historic Site in Johnston County.
Notes
1. Resolutions, January 1866, General Assembly Session Records, State Archives, Office of Archives
and History, Raleigh.
2. “Legs for Soldiers,” Raleigh Standard, January 19, 1866; “The Legislature,” Raleigh Sentinel,
January 20, 1866.
3. Correspondence Relating to Artificial Limbs, 1866-1869, Box 41.5, Civil War Collection,
Military Collection, State Archives, Office of Archives and History, Raleigh; Jonathan Worth,
Governor’s Papers, 1866, State Archives, Office of Archives and History, Raleigh.
4. Silas M. Stone to Jonathan Worth, March 6, 1866, Correspondence Relating to Artificial Limbs,
Box 41.5, Civil War Collection.
5. Box 41, Civil War Collection.
6. Jonathan Worth, Governor’s Papers, April 1866.
7. J. L. Cathey, Box 41.1, Civil War Collection; J. M. McLean, Box 41.3, Civil War Collection.
8. Pinkney M. Amos, Box 41.1, Civil War Collection; B. F. Fonville, W. F. Ferguson, Box 41.2,
Civil War Collection.
9. Treasurer’s Cash Book 4, Treasurer’s and Comptroller’s Papers, State Archives, Office of Archives
and History, Raleigh.
10. Robert A. Hanna, 1913, Applications for Confederate Pensions, Series 2, State Auditor’s
Records, State Archives, Office of Archives and History, Raleigh.
V O L U M E 5 2 , N U M B E R 4 , O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 1 4 1
Carolina Comments
(ISSN 0576-808X)
Published quarterly by the Office of Archives and History
North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
Raleigh, North Carolina
Jeffrey J. Crow, Editor in Chief
Kenrick N. Simpson, Editor
Historical Publications Section
Office of Archives and History
4622 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-4622
Telephone (919) 733-7442
Fax (919) 733-1439
www.ncpublications.com
Presorted Standard
U.S. Postage Paid
Raleigh, NC
Permit No. 187